Abstract
Liposomes have been utilized as a drug delivery system to increase the bioavailability of drugs and to control the rate of drug release at the target site of action. However, the occurrence of self-aggregation, coalescence, flocculation and the precipitation of aqueous liposomes during formulation or storage can cause degradation of the vesicle structure, leading to the decomposition of liposomes. To increase the stability of liposomes, post-processing techniques have been applied as an additional process to liposomes after formulation to remove water and generate dry liposome particles with a higher stability and greater accessibility for drug administration in comparison with aqueous liposomes. This review covers the effect of these techniques including freeze drying, spray drying and spray freeze drying on the stability, physicochemical properties and drug encapsulation efficiency of dry liposomes. The parameters affecting the properties of liposomes during the drying process are also highlighted in this review. In addition, the impact of using a protective agent to overcome such limitations of each process is thoroughly discussed through various studies.
Highlights
Luisa González RodríguezDrugs and bioactive compounds have an enormous potential for curing diseases, relieving pain, preventing disease or maintaining health
The effects of common post-processing techniques including freeze drying, spray drying and spray freeze drying on the stability and bioavailability of liposomes are summarized according to the current studies (Figure 1)
The primary purpose of applying post-processing techniques such as freezing drying, spray drying and spray freeze drying to liposome formulations is to enhance the stability of the liposomes, which in turn increases the drug encapsulation efficiency of the liposomes
Summary
Drugs and bioactive compounds have an enormous potential for curing diseases, relieving pain, preventing disease or maintaining health. Many kinds of drug delivery systems have been developed by the encapsulation of drugs or bioactive compounds in various carriers such as liposomes [3,4], nanoemulsions [5], nanostructured lipid carriers [6,7] and micelles [8], aiming to increase drug bioavailability, control the drug release rate at the target organ and improve the safety and stability of the delivery systems themselves [1,9,10] Among these carriers, liposomes, which are long circulating macromolecular carriers, have become the most interesting carriers because of their potential to deliver both hydrophilic and hydrophobic substances to cell membranes [2,11]. The parameters affecting the properties of liposomes after drying and the current studies on the application of postprocessing techniques to drug-encapsulated liposomes are discussed
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