Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 16, Issue 4, 2015

Biopharmaceuticals comprise therapeutic protein-based, nucleic acids and cell-based products. According to their therapeutic success, the clinical use of these products has been growing. Therefore, the development of efficient biopharmaceuticals delivery systems, which overcome their limitations for administration, remains an excellent prospect for pharmaceutical technologists. In this area, lipid nanoparticles have bee Read More

Proliposomes are phospholipid based drug delivery systems that are finding important applications in the field of pharmaceutics. Proliposomes have been extensively studied as a potential carrier for oral delivery of drugs with poor bioavailability, but the mechanism of absorption and cellular uptake pathways has not yet been clearly understood. An in-depth insight into the physical and biological behavior of proliposomes is ne Read More

Cubosomes are formed by amphiphilic molecules, with the bicontinuous contortions of inter-connecting hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains. The inner cubic-phase structure of cubosomes makes it an attractive drug-delivery system in pharmaceutical applications. This review mainly describes the potential applications of cubosomes as a drug delivery system for oral administration, highlights the mechanisms involved in the tra Read More

Lipid nanocapsules with their unique composition represent a promising biocompatible drug delivery platform in nanometer range with narrow size distribution. They are highly stable in comparison to other nano-vectors and were found to impart very desirable characteristics to the therapeutic molecule being delivered within. The current review sheds the light on the methods of preparation of lipid nanocapsules, which are simp Read More

Among all available lipid based nanoparticulate systems, the success of liposomal drug delivery system is evident by the number of liposomal products available in the market or under advanced stages of preclinical and clinical trials. Liposome has the ability to deliver chemotherapeutic agents to the targeted tissues or even inside the cancerous cells by enhanced intracellular penetration or improved tumour targeting. In Read More

Vesicular systems exhibit many attractive properties such as controlled drug release, ability to carry both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs, targetability and good biocompatibility. With these unique properties they can provide improved drug bioavailability and reduced side effects. Until now, many vesicular formulations have been studied in clinical and preclinical stages. Nevertheless, the major concern about these syst Read More

Essential oils have increased interest as promising ingredients for novel pharmaceutical dosage forms. These oils are reported to provide synergistic effects of their active ingredients, in parallel with their biodegradable properties. In addition, essential oils may also have therapeutic effects in diabetes, inflammation, cancer and to treat microbial infections. However, there are some physicochemical properties that m Read More

Transcutaneous vaccination has become a widely used technique for providing immunity against several types of pathogens, taking advantage of the immune components found in the skin. The success in the field of vaccination has not only relied on the type of antigen and adjuvant delivered, but also on how they are delivered. In this regard, particulate carriers, especially nanoparticles have evoked considerable interest, owin Read More

Lipid based vesicular drug delivery system, one of the emerging technologies designed for addressing the delivery challenges of conventional drug delivery methods, has widespread applications in chemotherapeutics, immunotherapeutics, recombinant DNA technology, membrane biology and also as a diagnostic tool in different biological field. The enclosed phospholipid bilayer spherical structure, typically known as liposome, is Read More

Here, the use of emulsomes as a drug delivery system is reviewed and compared with other similar lipidic nanoformulations. In particular, we look at surface modification of emulsomes using S-layer proteins, which are self-assembling proteins that cover the surface of many prokaryotic organisms. It has been shown that covering emulsomes with a crystalline S-layer lattice can protect cells from oxidative stress and mem Read More