Elastic vesicles as topical/transdermal drug delivery systems.

Skin acts a major target as well as a principle barrier for topical/transdermal drug delivery. Despite the many advantages of this system, the major obstacle is the low diffusion rate of drugs across the stratum corneum. Several methods have been assessed to increase the permeation rate of drugs temporarily. One simple and convenient approach is application of drugs in formulation with elastic vesicles or skin enhancers. Elastic vesicles are classified with phospholipid (Transfersomes((R)) and ethosomes) and detergent-based types. Elastic vesicles were more efficient at delivering a low and high molecular weight drug to the skin in terms of quantity and depth. Their effectiveness strongly depends on their physicochemical properties: composition, duration and application volume, and entrapment efficiency and application methods. This review focuses on the effect of elastic liposomes for enhancing the drug penetration and defines the action mechanism of penetration into deeper skin.