REVIEW ON ETHOSOMES: A NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Priyanka Verma*, Anil K. Yadav, Divyanshi Gupta and Zulfa Nooreen

ABSTRACT

Transdermal drug delivery, self-contained, discrete dosage forms which, when applied to the intact skin, deliver the drug, through the skin at controlled rate to the systemic circulation. Ethosomes, noninvasive delivery carriers that enable drugs to reach deep into the skin layers or the systemic circulation made up of phospholipids, high concentration of ethanol and water. The main disadvantage of transdermal drug delivery system is the poor penetration of the most compound in to the skin. The upper most layer of the skin stratum corneum is the is the main barrier. Ethosomes and liposomes are the main approaches for enhancing the skin penetration of drugs and lot of cosmetic chemicals through vascular system. Ethosomes are the phospholipid based elastic nanovesicles and it has high content of ethanol about (20 – 50%). Ethanol is also known as an effective permeation enhancer and had been added in the vascular system to prepare elastic nanovesicles. It interacts with polar head group region of the lipid molecule causing the reduction of the melting point of stratum corneum (SC) lipid and enhances lipid fluidity and also enhances cell membrane permeability. If we compare with other conventional liposomes and hydroalcoholic solution, the ethosome system are more efficient in delivering substance through the skin in term of quality and depth. This review article summarizes structure, advantages, disadvantages, composition and mechanism of drug penetration method and of preparation, evaluation and applications of ethosomes.

Keywords: Novel drug delivery system, Ethosomes, Stratum corneum, Percutaneous absorption, Penetration enhancer.