Novel Vesicular Nanostructures for Topical Delivery of Drugs

The greatest challenge faced by topical delivery is the barrier nature of skin itself which limits the Bioavailability (BA) of topically administered drugs.Drug delivery through nano vesicular carriers is a suitable strategy to enhance the BA.Recent approaches have resulted in the design of novel deformable vesicular carriers which can penetrate through deeper layers of skin owing to their elasticity and nanosize.Studies have suggested that presence of edge activators such as surfactants and ethanol destabilize the lipid bilayers and increase the deformability of the vesicles but these carriers have certain drawbacks such as skin irritation.Based on these considerations,this book therefore provides a novel method to modify liposomes by incorporating Glycerol as edge activator.Glycerol is selected because it is widely used in topical formulations, presence of hydroxyl groups, known plasticizing effect, and good solvent property. The aim of the present work is to design and develop novel vesicular nanostructures which will overcome the limitations of existing vesicular systems and offer potential value in topical delivery of drugs and cosmetics. Rhodamine B is chosen as a model drug.