Liposomes as Drug Delivery System: An Updated Review

Abstract

The liposomes were the first Nano medicine to be accepted for clinical use. They are the spherical vesicles that possess mid empty aqueous space, which is encircled by a phospholipids bilayer. Liposomes have immense capability to prevent the degradation of drugs, reduce side effects and are thus increasingly used for targeted drug delivery. The drugs can either be incorporated inside the aqueous space (hydrophilic drugs) or inside the phospholipids bilayer (hydrophobic drugs) of liposomes for the targeted drug delivery. Considering the importance of liposomes as a drug delivery system, the present review paper tries to look into its details. The entire paper is classified into six parts. The first part is introductory. The second part discusses the classification of liposomes. In the third segment, the structural components of liposomes are detailed. The fourth portion of the paper talks about methods of preparation of liposomes. In the fifth segment, the characterization of liposomes is discussed. The sixth part discusses the application of liposomes and the last part is given to concluding observation. Literature shows distinct types of liposomes, categorized based on size, number of lipid layers, composition and preparation method. They are recently used for various nanoscale drugs formulation and a piece of concrete evidence was seen recently in recommended drug for black fungus i.e., Liposomal Amphotericin B. Although, their development and application are remaining the challenge due to costly and tedious processes involved in their production and development. Therefore, further research and development are required to perform to overcomes these challenges.
 Keywords: Liposome, characterization, amphiphatic, controlled release, phospholipids

The Effect of Encapsulated Apigenin Nanoparticles on HePG-2 Cells through Regulation of P53

“…However, the low solubility of chitosan at physiological pH continues to be a concern in drug diffusion in vivo. Furthermore, there are a lot of limitations to using liposomes or PLGA nanoparticles for drug delivery, including high cost, oxidation of the loaded molecule, and insufficient drug loading [23][24][25].…”

“…Moreover, loading Ap on galactose-PLGA nanoparticles had an enhanced apoptotic and cytotoxic effect against HePG-2 cells [20]. However, liposomes' high manufacturing cost, limited lifetime, reduced stability due to oxidation, and even lower solubility may limit their usage in large-scale cancer therapy [23]. Alternatively, encapsulation with PLGA could cause the encapsulated drug to aggregate, leading to limited drug loading [24,25].…”

Recent Developments in Oral Delivery of Vaccines Using Nanocarriers

“…Liposomes have gained immense importance in drug delivery due to their ability to encapsulate both hydrophobic and hydrophilic components. These are composed of a self-assembly of phospholipids constituting an inner aqueous core and an outer lipid bilayer [ 68 ]. Hydrophilic antigens can be efficiently entrapped within the core, whereas the hydrophobic components can be incorporated in the lipid bilayer or at the junction of an inner and outer layer.…”

Liposomes: preparation and characterization with a special focus on the application of capillary electrophoresis

“…Multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) usually contain 5–25 phospholipid bilayers and thus are more suitable for encapsulating hydrophobic drugs. On the other hand, LUVs are more suitable for encapsulating hydrophilic drugs, because they have only one phospholipid bilayer and a much larger volume of aqueous solution within the liposome than SUVs [ 4 , 5 , 10 , 13 , 14 ].…”