PRONIOSOME: A PROMISING PULMONARY DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Pradeepa N.*, S. Parthiban and G. P. Senthil Kumar

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT Pulmonary drug delivery is primarily used to treat conditions of airways, delivering locally acting drugs directly to their site of action. Delivery of anti-asthmatic and other locally acting drugs directly to their site of action reduces the dose needed to produce a pharmacological effect, while the low concentrations in the systemic circulation may also reduce side effects.Vesicular drug delivery systems have gained wide attention in the field of nanotechnology. Among them proniosomes become the superior over other vesicular carriers. Proniosomes are dry formulations of water soluble nonionic surfactant coated carrier system which immediately forms niosomes upon hydration. They have the capability to overcome the instability problems associated with niosomes and liposomes and have the potential to improve solubility, bioavailability, and absorption of various drugs. This review discusses about the use of proniosomes in pulmonary targeting of drugs for better therapeutic efficacy. Moreover, this review demonstrates critical appraisal of the literature for proniosomes and explains delivering drugs via pulmonary route.

Keywords: Niosomes, proniosomes, pulmonary route.