Transferosomes: A Novel Topical Approach

Abstract

Transdermal drug delivery technologies have gained attention in recent years due to their advantages over conventional drug delivery systems. Transdermal drug delivery is limited because the stratum corneum functions as a barrier. Transferosomes are ultradeformable vesicles consisting of a lipid bilayer with phospholipids and an edge activator. After topical treatment, transferosomes can deliver larger quantities of active ingredients to deeper skin layers than liposomes. Generally, molecules with a molecular weight of more than 500 Daltons cannot penetrate through skin. As a result, this route can only be used to give a few medications. Therefore, this issue can be solved by encapsulating the medicine in a transferosome. Drugs that are hydrophilic, lipophilic or amphiphilic can be enclosed in transferosomes, which have a bilayer structure and a higher penetration efficiency than traditional liposomes. The most prevalent lipid found in a cell membrane, phosphatidylcholine, is found in high concentrations in the majority of transferosomes. Surfactants including sodium deoxycholate, Tween 80, and span 80 are frequently utilized as edge activators since they increase skin tolerance and reduce the chance of unfavorable effects. Due to their elastic nature, transferosomes can bend and squeeze themselves as a complete vesicle through tiny pores that are much smaller than their size. Keywords: Transferosomes, Transdermal drug delivery, stratum corneum