Phytosomes as Emerging Nanotechnology for Herbal Drug Delivery

Abstract

Herbal medicines or phyto-pharmaceuticals have a prominent history in medicine due to their numerous therapeutic significance in healthcare. Even though plant extracts and their phytoconstituents show brilliant in-vitro bio-activity, they still possesses poor in-vivo actions owing to their high molecular sizes and low lipid solubility or both, rendering them less absorbable with lower bioavailability. Phytosome is novel technology which is known to placate all above problems or limitations of conventional systems of herbal drug delivery. Phytosome are formed by a method where a plant extract or its components get anchored to phospholipids (chiefly phosphotidylcholine), forming a lipid responsive complex. Phospholipid structure comprises of a hydrophilic head and two lipophilic tails and due to their duos nature, phospholipids behaves like an active emulsifier. By conjoining the emulsifying property of phospholipids with the herbal extract/phytoactive constituent, the phytosome affords considerably improved bioavailability and deliver faster and enhanced absorption in intestinal tract.