Elastic Liposome - A promising approach for transdermal drug delivery

Transdermal drug delivery is hardly an old technology, since 1800's and the technology is no longer just adhesive patches. Due to recent advances in technology and the ability to apply the drug to the site of action without rupturing the skin membrane, transdermal route is becoming a widely accepted route of drug administration. Recently, various strategies have been used to augment the transdermal delivery of bioactives. Mainly, they include iontophoresis, electrophoresis, sonophoresis, chemical permeation enhancers, micro needles, and vesicular system. Among these strategies elastic liposomes appear promising. Elastic liposomes possess an infrastructure consisting of hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties together and as a result can accommodate drug molecules with wide range of solubility. It is an ultra deformable vesicle, elastic in nature which can squeeze itself through a pore which is many times smaller than its size owing to its elasticity. They can deform and pass through narrow constriction (from 5 to 10 times less than their own diameter) without measurable loss. This high deformability gives better penetration of intact vesicles.