Comparative Potential of Vesicular Carriers for Transdermal Drug Delivery: A Review

Skin has been widely explored as a site of drug application for both local and systemic effect. However, the main barrier for diffusion through the skin is the outermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum. This prevents epicutaneous delivery of the high molecular weight therapeutics. Various strategies including ionotophoresis, electrophoresis, sonophoresis, chemical permeation enhancers and vesicular drug delivery systems have been used to augment the transdermal delivery of bioactives. For increasing the drug penetration through the skin, vesicular drug delivery systems are considered most suitable. Elastic liposomes also known as Transferosomes are a form of deformable vesicle, which were first introduced in the early 1990s. These are modified lipid carriers, composed of phospholipids, surfactant and water, that enable drugs to reach into deeper skin layers or the systemic circulation. They can act as carrier for low as well as high molecular weight drugs. These are applied by non occluded method to the skin and permeate through the stratum corneum and underlying viable skin into blood circulation in intact form. This review presents comparative account of various vesicular systems as carriers of bioactives for transdermal delivery.