Abstract

ETHOSOMES- AN EFFECTIVE DERMAL DRUG DELIVERY

K. Kartheswari, G. Akhila and B. Venkata Phani Deepthi*

Abstract

Ethosomes are the ethanolic phospholipid vesicles which are used mainly for transdermal delivery of drugs. Ethosomes are soft, malleable vesicles composed mainly of phospholipids, ethanol (relatively high concentration) and water. Several approaches have been developed to weaken this skin barrier. One of the approaches for increasing the skin penetration of drugs and many cosmetic chemicals is the use of vesicular systems such as liposomes and ethosomes. Ethanol is known as an efficient permeation enhancer and has been added in the vesicular systems to prepare elastic nanovesicles. Ethosomes have various applications in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, veterinary, cosmetic, and nutraceutical markets. Ethosomes became the new trend because of its enhanced skin permeation, improved drug delivery, increased drug entrapment efficiency etc. Ethosomes provides a number of important benefits including improving the drug‘s efficacy, enhancing patient compliance and comfort and reducing the total cost of treatment. The present review focuses mainly on the various aspects of ethosomes including their mechanism of penetration, preparation, composition, characterization, advantages, applications and marketed product of ethosomes.

Keywords: Ethosomes, Phospholipid Vesicles, Penetration, Ethanol, Transdermal drug delivery.