Brief Insight on Nanovesicular Liposomes as Drug-delivery Carriers for Medical Applications

Abstract

Nanotechnology has revolutionized and improved the potential of drug-delivery systems. Lipidic nanovesicles, termed liposomes, offer several benefits as drug-delivery carriers due to their compositional similarity with human biological membranes. Some of the advantages offered by liposomes include targeted drug delivery and improved pharmacokinetics of an entrapped drug substance, leading to enhanced bioavailability. Additionally, the reduction in the drug dose or dosing frequency, reduced drug toxicity or side effects, longer and controlled therapeutic response of a drug essential for the treatment of chronic diseases, and improved patient acceptance margins are some other benefits offered by liposomes. The easily modifiable surface of liposomes makes it an ideal vehicle for targeting a drug to the desired site. The current review provides insight on liposomes as drug-delivery carriers. This review summarizes the classification of compositional constituents of liposomes based on their chemical nature and structure. Morphology-based classification of liposomes along with methods of preparation and characterization for liposomes are also summarized. The current review emphasizes the medical applications of liposomes, specifically as delivery carriers for therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The article features detailed therapeutic applications of liposomes based on routes of administration and specific disease conditions. Diagnostic applications of liposomes for improving the efficiency of available techniques to treat diseases such as cancer are also discussed. Liposomes are thus reviewed as multifaceted nanovesicular carriers with potential therapeutic and diagnostic medical applications. The prospective multifunctional application of combining imaging functionality with therapeutic agents in a single liposome for diagnosis and real-time treatment is anticipated to be the future of liposomal formulations.