Deformable vesicles: Alternatives in topical drug delivery

Dear Friends, We all are well known with a fact of benefits of novel topical drug delivery systems, namely avoidance of hepatic first-pass metabolism, thus improving drug bioavailability, decreasing dosing frequency, and improving patient compliance. Regardless of the enormous investigations in topical and transdermal drug delivery systems, still stratum corneum is known as a major obstacle which puts a big challenge in the development of new drug delivery systems. Nowadays, vesicular systems had been broadly studied as replacement carriers for topical and transdermal drug delivery. Transfersomes present a multifaceted drug delivery model for enhancing the active stability. At the nanometer level, these are (quasi) metastable that creates ultra-flexible vesicle membrane and consequently rendering the highly deformable vesicle which squeezes through pores in skin. Hence, vesicle up to 100–200 nm can penetrate the intact skin. Mechanism of penetration plays a significant role in drug delivery within therapeutic range. The contact between lipids and water in proximities induces lipid to interact with water molecule, in turn causes hydration. This difference in water content between skin and dosage form leads to the penetration of transferosomes across the skin. In addition, these also act as penetration enhancers which disrupt the intracellular lipids of skin, ultimately widening of skin pores and facilitating the skin penetration. Its manufacturing techniques are eco-friendly, thus supporting the concept of green nanotechnology. The excipients utilized are also sourced from nature, namely, phospholipids and surfactants. As per the research conducted till now, transferosomes have been successfully utilized for the delivery of insulin, interferons, proteins and peptides, corticosteroids, anticancer drugs, anesthetics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and many of the herbal active constituents. At the outline, these can be regarded as specially designed vesicles, which respond to external stress with elastic deformations, which aid the drug in crossing the biological permeability barriers. Conclusively, transferosomes enhance the transdermal flux, prolong the drug release, and also perk up the target specificity of active ingredients.