ALCOHOLIC NANO-CARRIERS: ETHOSOME FORMULATION TECHNIQUE, CONSTITUENT AND ITS EVALUATION: A REVIEW

Priyanka Verma*, Vinod Doharey and Narayan Prasad Yadav

ABSTRACT

There are many disadvantage of transdermal drug delivery because of its poor penetration of most of the compounds into the human skin. Many different approaches have been developed to debilitate the skin barrier. Ethosome are the main approaches which are used for increasing the skin penetration of drugs and many cosmetic chemicals. Ethosomal systems are novel lipid vesicular carriers containing a relatively high percentage of ethanol. Ethosomes is a vesicular carrier comprise of hydroalcoholic or hydro/alcoholic/glycolic phospholipid in which the concentration of alcohols or their combination is relatively high. These types of Nano-carriers are especially designed for effective delivery of medicinal substance with different physicochemical properties into deep skin layers and across the skin. There are many different preparation techniques which are used for the preparation of these types of new carriers. The prepared ethosomes were spherical and discrete in shape. The size of vesicles were found to be in the range of 3.25-5.69 μm, 0.715-1.302 μm and 5.42 μm for unsonicated ethosomes, sonicated ethosomes and liposomes respectively. For simple application and stability, Ethosomal dispersions are incorporated into patches, cream and gels. Ethosome, are non-invasive 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. This article provides a detailed review of the ethosomal systems and categorizes them on the basis of their constituents to classical ethosomes, binary ethosomes, and transethosomes. The differences among these systems are discussed from several perspectives, including the formulation, entrapment efficiency, skin-permeation properties, size, zeta potential, and stability. This review article gives a detailed information on the effects of ethosomal system constituents, preparation methods, and their significant roles in determining the final properties of these nanocarriers. Furthermore, the novel pharmaceutical dosage forms of ethosomal gels, patches, and creams are highlighted.

Keywords: Ethosome, nano-carriers, phospholipids, delivery system, zeta potential.