The ability of nanoparticles to manipulate the molecules and their structures has revolutionized the conventional drug delivery system. The chitosan nanoparticles, because of their biodegradability, biocompatibility, better stability, low toxicity, simple and mild preparation methods, offer a valuable tool to novel drug delivery systems in the present scenario. Besides ionotropic gelation method, other methods such as microemulsion method, emulsification solvent diffusion method, polyelectrolyte complex method, emulsification cross-linking method, complex coacervation method and solvent evaporation method are also in use. The chitosan nanoparticles have also been reported to have key applications in parentral drug delivery, per-oral administration of drugs, in nonviral gene delivery, in vaccine delivery, in ocular drug delivery, in electrodeposition, in brain targeting drug delivery, in stability improvement, in mucosal drug delivery in controlled drug delivery of drugs, in tissue engineering and in the effective delivery of insulin. The present review describes origin and properties of chitosan and its nanoparticles along with the different methods of its preparation and the various areas of novel drug delivery where it has got its application.

During the past decade formulation of vesicles as a tool to improve drug delivery, has created a lot of interest amongst the scientist working in the area of drug delivery systems. Vesicular system such as liposomes, niosomes, transferosomes, pharmacosomes and ethosomes provide an alternative to improve the drug delivery. Niosomes play an important role owing to their nonionic properties, in such drug delivery system. Design and development of novel drug delivery system (NDDS) has two prerequisites. First, it should deliver the drug in accordance with a predetermined rate and second it should release therapeutically effective amount of drug at the site of action. Conventional dosage forms are unable to meet these requisites. Niosomes are essentially non-ionic surfactant based multilamellar or unilamellar vesicles in which an aqueous solution of solute is entirely enclosed by a membrane resulting from the organization of surfactant macromolecules as bilayer. Niosomes are formed on hydration of non-ionic surfactant film which eventually hydrates imbibing or encapsulating the hydrating aqueous solution. The main aim of development of niosomes is to control the release of drug in a sustained way, modification of distribution profile of drug and for targeting the drug to the specific body site. This paper deals with composition, characterization/evaluation, merits, demerits and applications of niosomes.

The development of a still awaited perfect in vitro model to mimic BBB is a challenging task. System biologist, network biologist and computational technologist should come together to integrate the role of transporters, physiological and pathophysiological complexity of BBB to replicate vascular properties of the brain microcapillaries as a suitable model to facilitate the high-throughput screening of CNS acting biomolecules.

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