Abstract

TRANSFEROSOMES: AN OVERVIEW

*Shashikant Upadhye

ABSTRACT

Transdermal route of drug delivery has gained great interest in the pharmaceutical research, as it circumvents number of hindrances associated with oral route of drug administration. But it has some demerits as well like, the inability to overcome the barrier properties of the stratum corneum, the inability to transport the large molecules & many more. By using this route of drug delivery along with the novel approaches can help to solve these hindrances. One such approach is formulating the drug in the transferosome. The transferosome is the ultradeformable vesicle which is elastic in nature & which can squeeze itself through the pore which is many times smaller than its size owing to its elasticity. The transferosomes are made up of the phospholipids component along with the surfactant mixture. It not only improves the patient acceptability but also avoids the first pass metabolism, it minimizes the side effects, it improves the pharmacological & physiological response by avoiding the fluctuations in the drug levels. The deformability characteristic of the transfersomes gives better permeation of the drugs. For the low as well as high molecular weight drugs they can act as the carrier for example: corticosteroids, analgesics, anaesthetics, insulin, sex hormone. The present review highlights the composition, mechanism, method of preparation, characterization & applications of transferosomes.

Keywords: Transferosomes, Ultra-deformable vesicles, Transdermal drug delivery.