Abstract

A REVIEW ON CUBOSOMES: A NOVEL CARRIER FOR DRUG DELIVERY

Ramya Selvam T.*, Dr. R. Devi Damayanthi, Dr. S. Daisy Chellakumari, Bhuvaneswari K., Nivya P., Parveen S.

ABSTRACT

Lipid-based nanoparticles are one of the most successful strategies to enhance the dissolution and permeability of drugs. Out of these drug delivery systems are cubosomes nanoparticles. Cubosomes are sub-micron, nano-structured particles formed from the liquid crystalline phase. It acts as an active drug delivery system in the field of oral, cancer therapeutics, vaccine, topical treatment, transfection, nanocarriers for bioactive lipids, imaging contrast agents. Cubosomes contain a bicontinuous lipid bilayer, a structure similar to a honeycomb. They are thermodynamically stable, bioadhesion, and capable of loading lipophilic, hydrophilic, amphiphilic substances. It is prepared by simple methods. There are many methods for the formation of cubosomes including dispersion of cubic phases using sonication, homogenization, shearing, solvent evaporation, dilution methods, and mechanical stirring. The main precursor of cubosome formation is monoolein whereas poloxamer 407 in a concentration range between 0% and 0-20%w/w with respect to the disperse phase use as a surfactant. Cubosomes are having a wide range of applications in various fields and they can be characterized by various evaluation parameters. It was structured using electron microscopy, light scattering, x-ray, and NMR, nevertheless few researchers have been studying the potential of cubosome as delivery systems. So, cubosomes are gaining more attention in the pharmaceutical field.

Keywords: Liquid crystals, lyotropic liquid crystals, thermotropic, bicontinuous lipid bilayer, cubosomes, Isotropic liquid.