Transferosomes as a transdermal drug delivery system: Dermal kinetics and recent developments

Abstract

The development of innovative approaches to deliver medications has been growing now for the last few decades and generates a growing interest in the dermatopharmaceutical field. Transdermal drug delivery in particular, remains an attractive alternative route for many therapeutics. However, due to the limitations posed by the barrier properties of the stratum corneum, the delivery of many pharmaceutical dosage forms remains a challenge. Most successful therapies using the transdermal route have been ones containing smaller lipophilic molecules with molecular weights of a few hundred Daltons. To overcome these limitations of size and lipophilicity of the drugs, transferosomes have emerged as a successful tool for transdermal delivery of a variety of therapeutics including hydrophilic actives, larger molecules, peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids. Transferosomes exhibit a flexible structure and higher surface hydrophilicity which both play a critical role in the transport of drugs and other solutes using hydration gradients as a driving force to deliver the molecules into and across the skin. This results in enhanced overall permeation as well as controlled release of the drug in the skin layers. Additionally, the physical–chemical properties of the transferosomes provide increased stability by preventing degradation of the actives by oxidation, light, and temperature. Here, we present the history of transferosomes from solid lipid nanoparticles and liposomes, their physical–chemical properties, dermal kinetics, and their recent advances as marketed dosage forms.This article is categorized under: Biology‐Inspired Nanomaterials > Lipid‐Based Structures Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies

Novel SmartReservoirs for hydrogel-forming microneedles to improve the transdermal delivery of rifampicin

“…8C–F). This can be explained according to Fick's law 31,46–48 as illustrated in eqn (3):where is the amount of rifampicin penetrating from the SF into the HF-MNs, D the diffusion coefficient in the stratum corneum , V k is the distribution coefficient between swollen hydrogel and the SF, A is the surface area of the application, d is the thickness of stratum corneum and the inserted length of the microneedles, C v is the concentration of dissolved rifampicin within the swollen hydrogel (upon the release from the SmartReservoir).…”

“…According to Fick's law, this leads to the diffusion of the drug contained within the SF into the skin layers, facilitating local deposition in the deep skin tissue or systemic absorption. 32,[46][47][48][49] Based on this, increasing the loading efficiency of solubilized rifampicin within the SF is expected to deliver greater amounts of the lipophilic antibiotic across the skin. This will ultimately improve upon the permeation profiles observed in previous studies which have investigated the transdermal delivery of rifampicin using MNs.…”

Revolutionizing transdermal drug delivery: unveiling the potential of cubosomes and ethosomes

“…In an aqueous environment, these vesicles create closed concentrated bilayers, enclosing water-soluble solutes in the hydrophilic core. 65,66 The variations and iterations in these structures can influence the molecular composition and properties of LNPs, subsequently affecting their topical and transdermal penetration and permeation capabilities.…”

Review on novel targeted enzyme drug delivery systems: enzymosomes

“…Liposomal carriers can carry modified liposomes, 231 marinosomes, [232][233][234][235] phytosomes, [236][237][238] and transferosomes. 121,122,[239][240][241] Recently developed biocompatible lipid microparticles and nanoparticles are called the lipid particulate system. Their controlled medication release, solid grid of stable lipids, physicochemical compatibility, and active component degradation protection make them useful.…”