ETHOSOMES: NOVEL VESICULAR CARRIER FOR ENHANCED TRANSDERMAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

The dermal route has been recognized as one of the highly potential routes of systemic drug delivery and provides the advantage of avoidance of the ?rst pass effect, ease of use and withdrawal (in case of side effects), and better patient compliance. The skin, in particular the stratum corneum, poses a formidable barrier to drug penetration thereby limiting topical and transdermal bioavailability. Ethosomes are non-invasive delivery carrier system which is mainly used for delivery of drug to the systemic circulation. Ethosomes have higher quantity of ethanol. Ethanol penetration of drug into the stratum corneum by increases the fluidity of cell membrane lipids. The present review includes the composition, mechanism of penetration, advantages, method of preparation and characterization of ethosomes. The applications of ethosomes for various type of drug delivery, cosmetics use and marketed preparations are also described.