Novel Vesicular Carriers: Proniosomes

Abstract

Vesicular systems have been receiving a lot of interest as a carrier for advanced drug delivery. Encapsulation of the drug in vesicular structures can be expected to prolong the duration of the drug in the systemic circulation and to reduce toxicity by selective up-taking. Drug delivery systems using colloidal particulate carriers such as liposomes or niosomes have proved to possess distinct advantages over conventional dosage forms because the particles can act as drug reservoirs, and can carry both hydrophilic drugs by encapsulation or hydrophobic drugs by partitioning these drugs into hydrophobic domains and modification of the particle composition or surface can adjust the drug release rate and/or the affinity for the target site. Although niosomes as a carrier have shown advantages such as being cheap and chemically stable, they are associated with problems related to physical stability such as fusion, aggregation, sedimentation and leakage on storage. All methods traditionally used for the preparation of niosomes are time-consuming and many involve specialized equipment.