Liposome in Drug Delivery System

Today, clinical medicine possesses an extremely long list of different pharmaceutical products and every year many new drugs are added to the list with the understanding of molecular mechanisms of diseases. Scientists and physicians are never satisfied only with a favorable drug action against the disease under treatment. The task of avoiding undesirable drug actions on normal organs and tissues and minimizing side effects of the therapy is very important. Thus, screening of biologically active compounds became necessary, permitting the choice of drug with selective action on the appropriate organs or tissues. A liposome is an artificially prepared vesicle composed of a lipid bilayer. The liposome can be used as a vehicle for administration of nutrients and pharmaceutical drugs. Liposomes can be prepared by disrupting biological membranes such as by sonication.

Liposomes are composed of natural phospholipids, and may also contain mixed lipid chains with surfactant properties. A liposome design may employ surface ligands for attaching to unhealthy tissue. The major types of liposomes are the multilamellar vesicle (MLV), the small unilamellarvesicle (SUV), and the large unilamellar vesicle (LUV).