THE CONCEPT OF FRACTALS IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

An old problem is sometimes better understood when it is viewed from a new perspective than by investigating it repeatedly with classical me thods. Such a new perspective is provided by the concept of fractals. Briefly, this term defines a spread class of geometric shapes, whose s ubunits replicate the structure of the larger unit in accordance with the formalization of the idea of self-similarity. This concept was int roduced by Mandelbrot in respond to the need for a more sophisticated explanation of numerous phenomena commonly encountered in nature. In t his review we will provide a short introduction into the concept of fr actals and a concise overview of those studies where fractal geometry has been employed so far in pharmaceutical research. We believe that a review of the most recent findings in the application of fractal geom etry to problems encountered in the pharmaceutical sciences might be h elpful also to those people who are involved in the search for novel d rug substances, as well as in the investigation of their performance i n vitro and in vivo. A few suggestions will be made where this concept probably could be helpful in the future and instructions will be give n on how the fractal dimension of rugged objects can be estimated prac tically.