Proniosomes and Ethosomes: New Prospect in Transdermal and Dermal Drug Delivery System

The present article is a descriptive study of the performances of ethosomes and proniosomes as specialized delivery systems for transdermal drug delivery system. Vesicular systems, such as ethosomes and proniosomes are used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products to encapsulate ingredients, to protect ingredients from degradation, to increase bioavailability, and to improve cosmetic performance. A review of literature is presented here and a sincere attempt has been made to highlight the properties and characteristics of proniosomes and ethosomes in transdermal drug delivery and cosmetic/cosmeceuticals applications. Interaction studies between proniosomes and ethosomes components and skin is also discussed along with the formulation aspects of proniosomes and ethosomes formulation. Our aim is to introduce and explore proniosome and ethosomes as a carrier system for various applications of drugs and cosmeceuticals. The goal of this study is to investigate the efficiency of transcellular delivery of drugs with the help of ethosomes and proniosomes. INTRODUCTION: Transdermal therapeutic systems are the recently developed devices, which are non invasive to skin as compared to other routes for administration of drugs. Although the skin, particularly the stratum corneum presents a barrier to most drug absorption, it provides a large (1-2 mtr) and accessible surface area for drug diffusion. Various types of transdermal therapeutic systems are utilized for long term continuous infusion of therapeutic agents, including antihypertensives, antifungal, analgesics, steroids and contraceptive drugs. Although transdermal delivery is currently limited to few drugs, it has achieved considerable commercial success. Some drugs which are used in transdermal delivery systems include nitroglycerine, scopolamine, estradiol, testosterone, nicotine, clonidine and estrogen-progestin combination into transdermal products . Various types of transdermal drug delivery system include liposomes, erythrosomes, liposomes, niosomes, ethosomes, and proniosomes . Nanoerythrosomes: an erythrocyte based new drug carrier, has been developed which is prepared by extrusion of erythrocyte ghosts to produce small vesicle having average diameter of 100μm. Liposomes: small vesicle of a bilayer of phospholipids encapsulating an aqueous space ranging from 0.0310μm in diameter. Niosomes: are non-ionic surfactants based multilamellar or unilamellar vesicles in which an aqueous solution of solute(s) is enclosed by a membrane resulted from the organization of surfactant macro-molecule as bilayer. Proniosomes and ethosomes are recent development made in transdermal therapeutic systems. These are