Lipid Based Vesicular Drug Delivery Systems

Abstract

Vesicular drug delivery system can be defined as highly ordered assemblies consisting of one or more concentric bilayers formed as a result of self-assembling of amphiphilic building blocks in presence of water. Vesicular drug delivery systems are particularly important for targeted delivery of drugs because of their ability to localize the activity of drug at the site or organ of action thereby lowering its concentration at the other sites in body. Vesicular drug delivery system sustains drug action at a predetermined rate, relatively constant (zero order kinetics), efficient drug level in the body, and simultaneously minimizes the undesirable side effects. It can also localize drug action in the diseased tissue or organ by targeted drug delivery using carriers or chemical derivatization. Different types of pharmaceutical carriers such as polymeric micelles, particulate systems, and macro- and micromolecules are presented in the form of novel drug delivery system for targeted delivery of drugs. Particulate type carrier also known as colloidal carrier system, includes lipid particles, micro- and nanoparticles, micro- and nanospheres, polymeric micelles and vesicular systems like liposomes, sphingosomes, niosomes, transfersomes, aquasomes, ufasomes, and so forth.

Surfactant Effects on Lipid-Based Vesicles Properties

“…They are employed as a carrier for both hydrophilic and lipophilic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Hydrophilic drugs are usually encapsulated in the aqueous core or adsorbed on the surface of polar head part of the lipid, whereas the lipophilic drugs are encapsulated between the concentric bilayer (lipid tails form a suitable lipophilic environment) 6,7 (Figure 1, A). Lipid based vesicular systems may be classified depending on many factors such as their constituents, size and number of bilayers, which accumulatively affect the final vesicle properties in several ways 8,9 .…”

Calcium alginate microspheres containing metformin hydrochloride niosomes and chitosomes aimed for oral therapy of type 2 diabetes mellitus

“…Among these, vesicular carriers like liposomes are of particular interest, due to their ability to easily encapsulate both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs, together with their biocompatibility, biodegradability and very low toxicity (Jain et al, 2014;Maestrelli et al, 2016). However, the practical use of liposomes is often restricted, mainly by problems related to leakage of encapsulated molecules, short half-life and, in particular, limited physical and chemical stability in solution and in biological environment, being destabilized by low pH, lipases and bile salts (Bozzuto and Molinari, 2015;McClements, 2015).…”

Advances in encapsulated dermal formulations in chemoprevention of melanoma: An overview

“…These systems are useful for targeted delivery of drugs as they are able to localize the drug at the site of action, thereby lowering the drug concentration at other sites in the body. 10 5-FU has received researchers' attention in the development of various novel topical formulations since its conventional topical products are approved for the treatment of skin cancers. 11 Figure 1 is a schematic representation of vesicular systems.…”

“…Vesicular DDS are highly ordered assemblies made up of one or more concentric bilayers. These systems are useful for targeted delivery of drugs as they are able to localize the drug at the site of action, thereby lowering the drug concentration at other sites in the body …”