Transferosomes - A Novel Vesicular System

The transdermal drug delivery system is an interesting option because it is convenient and safe as it offers several potential advantages over conventional routes like avoidance of first pass metabolism, predictable and extended duration of activity, minimizing undesirable side effects, utility of short half-life drugs and it provides patients convenience. The major barrier in transdermal delivery of drug is the stratum corneum, the outermost envelop of the skin that offers the principal hurdle for diffusion of hydrophilic ionizable bioactives. Recently, various strategies have been used to augment the transdermal delivery of bioactives. They include iontophoresis, electrophoresis, sonophoresis, chemical permeation enhancers, microneedles, and vesicular system (liposomes, niosomes, liposomes, ethosomes and transferosomes). Among these strategies transferosomes appear promising. Transfersomes are a form of elastic or deformable vesicle, which were first introduced in the early 1990s. Elasticity can be achieved by using an edge activator in the lipid bilayer structure. They have been used as drug carriers for a range of small molecules, peptides, proteins and vaccines, both in vitro and in vivo. Transfersomes penetrate through the pores of stratum corneum which are smaller than its size and get into the underlying viable skin in intact form. Transfersomes can deform and pass through narrow constriction (from 5 to 10 times less than their own diameter) without measurable loss. This high deformability gives better penetration of intact vesicles. They can act as a carrier for low as well as high molecular weight drugs e.g. analgesic, anesthetic, corticosteroids, sex hormone, anticancer, insulin, etc.