RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDS) offer several advantages over traditional methods like injections and oral administration, including preventing first-pass metabolism, providing consistent and sustained activity, reducing side effects, enabling the use of short halflife drugs, improving physiological response, and enhancing patient convenience. However, the permeability of skin poses a challenge for TDDS, as it is impermeable to large molecules and hydrophilic drugs but permeable to small molecules and lipophilic medications. To overcome this barrier, researchers have investigated vesicular systems, such as transfersomes, liposomes, niosomes, and ethosomes. Among these vesicular systems, transfersomes are particularly promising for non-invasive drug administration due to their deformability and flexible membrane. They have been extensively studied for delivering anticancer drugs, insulin, corticosteroids, herbal medicines, and NSAIDs through the skin. Transfersomes have demonstrated efficacy in treating skin cancer, improving insulin delivery, enhancing site-specific corticosteroid delivery, and increasing the permeation and therapeutic effects of herbal medicines. They have also been effective in delivering pain relief with minimal side effects using NSAIDs and opioids. Transfersomes have been used for transdermal immunization and targeted drug delivery, offering site-specific release and minimizing adverse effects. Overall, transfersomes are a promising approach for transdermal drug delivery in various therapeutic applications. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present review is to discuss the various advantages and limitations of transfersomes and their mechanism to penetration across the skin, as well as their application for the delivery of various drugs like anticancer, antidiabetic, NSAIDs, herbal drugs, and transdermal immunization. METHODS: Data we searched from PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect. RESULTS: In this review, we have explored the various methods of preparation of transferosomes and their application for the delivery of various drugs like anticancer, antidiabetic, NSAIDs, herbal drugs, and transdermal immunization. CONCLUSION: In comparison to other vesicular systems, transfersomes are more flexible, have greater skin penetration capability, can transport systemic medicines, and are more stable. Transfersomes are capable of delivering both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs, making them suitable for transdermal drug delivery. The developed transfersomal gel could be used to improve medicine delivery through the skin.
RESUMEN
Nanotechnology has emerged strongly in most of the field of sciences at a tiny scale. At this size, atoms and molecules work differently and present a diversity of amazing and appealing applications. Pharmaceutical nanocarriers comprise nanoparticles, nanospheres, nanocapsules, nanoemulsion, nanoliposomes and nanoniosomes. The major objectives in designing nanocarriers are to manage particle size, surface properties as well as drug release in order to fulfil specific objectives. Hence, characterizations of nanocarriers are very critical to control their desired in vitro and in vivo behaviour. Nanocarriers are characterized by their size, morphology and surface charge, using highly advanced microscopic techniques as scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Surface morphology and size are measured by electron microscopy while dynamic light scattering and photon-correlation spectroscopy are used to determine the particle size and size distribution. Colloidal stability is ascertained through zeta potential which is an indirect measure of the surface charge and differential scanning calorimetry is used to characterize particles and drug interaction. Further, binding and internalization of targeted carriers to the specific cells could be determined by cell uptake study. Biodistribution study of targeted nanocarriers is carried out and intracellular uptake and subcellular localization of the nanocarrier could be confirmed using confocal microscopy. This review covers all the aforementioned aspect related to in vitro and in vivo characterization of pharmaceutical nanocarriers.