Review On Ethosomal And Trans Ethosomal Drug Delivery System

Oral route is the normal route of drug delivery, which has many benefits such as easy delivery but has drawbacks such as low bioavailability and a propensity to produce rapid spikes in blood levels, thereby being a requirement for higher dose or repeated dosing, which is difficult for the patient and also high cost. With all these disadvantages in mind, there is a need for novel drug delivery technology with increased therapeutic efficacy and safety with controlled delivery to minimize the size and number of doses. This can be achieved by transdermal delivery which possesses several advantages such as avoids first-pass metabolism, eliminates gastrointestinal irritation reduces frequency of dosing, and rapid termination of drug action. Skin serves as a significant target and a key barrier to the delivery of topical drugs. The major obstacle of this system is the low diffusion rate of drugs across the stratum corneum. Ethosomes are non invasive delivery enable drugs to reach deep skin layers and to the systemic circulation. Ethosomes are flexible, malleable vesicles that are designed to improve active agent delivery. Ethosomes are able to encapsulate and distribute extremely lipophilic molecules through the skin, as well as cationic drugs, due to their unique structure. Ethosomal systems are novel vesicular lipid carriers, which have a relatively high ethanol content. Such nanocarriers are specifically developed for the efficient delivery of therapeutic agents in deep skin layers and through the skin with various physicochemical properties. In this article reviews various aspect of ethosomes including their advantages, disadvantages, ethosomal system types, composition of ethosomes, mechanism of penetration, physicochemical characterization, evaluation & applications of ethosomes.