Ethosomes As Elastic Vesicles In Transdermal Drug Delivery: An Overview

Ethosomes are as novel vesicles in transdermal drug delivery show significant effects of drug penetration through the biological membrane with slight modification of well established drug carrier liposomes. Ethosomes are soft, malleable vesicles composed mainly of phospholipids, ethanol and water. The size of ethosome vesicles can be modulated from tens of nanometer to microns. The ethosomes can be prepared by Hot as well as Cold method. The evaluation parameters of ethosomes include visualization, vesicle size and zeta potential, transition temperature, surface tension activity measurement, vesicle stability, drug content, penetration and permeation studies. Ethosomes have been found to be much more efficient at delivering drug to the skin than either liposomes or hydroalcoholic solution. Thus, it can be a logical conclusion that ethosomal formulation possesses promising future in effective dermal/transdermal delivery of bioactive agents.