Sublingual drug delivery.

The sublingual route is one of the early modes of administration for systemic drug delivery. This route avoids first-pass metabolism and affords quick drug entry into the systemic circulation. Attempts have been made to deliver various pharmacologically active agents, such as cardiovascular drugs, analgesics, and peptides, across the sublingual mucosa. In this review, the anatomical structure, blood supply, biochemical composition, transport pathways, permeation enhancement strategies, in vitro/in vivo models, and clinical investigations for the sublingual route of drug delivery is discussed.