ETHOSOMES - A NOVEL VESICULAR TRANSDERMAL DRUG CARRIER

Abstract

Transdermal drug delivery system is emerging as one of the most prominent route in drug delivery. It has given a path for easy administration of drugs with increased patient compliance. The skin is the major route for transdermal drug delivery, it present a way for drugs to reach systemic circulation without exposing them to gastric acids and first pass metabolism, but the main disadvantage of skin is the low diffusion of drugs through stratum corneum, which acts as barrier for drug delivery. Ethosomes are novel non-invasive ethanolic phospholipids came into existence from 1997 which acts as skin enhancers and carries the drug across stratum corneum and make them available in deeper layers of skin. The insight of this review is to enlighten the main aspects such as structure and composition of stratum corneum, mechanism of penetration, advantages, applications and available marketed products etc