What We Need to Know about Liposomes as Drug Nanocarriers: An Updated Review

Abstract

Liposomes have been attracted considerable attention as phospholipid spherical vesicles, over the past 40 years. These lipid vesicles are valued in biomedical application due to their ability to carry both hydrophobic and hydrophilic agents, high biocompatibility and biodegradability. Various methods have been used for the synthesis of liposomes, so far and numerous modifications have been performed to introduce liposomes with different characteristics like surface charge, size, number of their layers, and length of circulation in biological fluids. This article provides an overview of the significant advances in synthesis of liposomes via active or passive drug loading methods, as well as describes some strategies developed to fabricate their targeted formulations to overcome limitations of the "first-generation" liposomes.