Niosomes

NIOSOMES

By-Lovnish Thakur

Niosomes are a novel drug delivery system,

in which the medication is encapsulated in a

vesicle. The vesicle is composed of a bilayer

of non-ionic surface active agents and hence

the name niosomes.

Nios = non ionic surfactant

somes = vesicles

They are vesicular systems similar to liposomes that can be

used as carriers of hydrophilic, ampiphilic and lipophilic drugs.

The niosomes are very small, and microscopic in size.

Their size lies in the nanometric scale.

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Most surface active agents when immersed in water yield

micellar structures, however some surfactants can yield

bilayer vesicles which are niosomes.

Niosomes may be-

unilamellar

multilamellar

Small

Unilamellar

Vesicle

(SUV)

Large

Unilamellar

Vesicle

(LUV)

Multilamellar

Vesicle

(MLV)

Typical Size Ranges: SLV: 20-50 nm – MLV:100-1000 nm

MECHANISMS OF NIOSOMAL SKIN DELIVERY

Noisomes interact with stratum corneum with aggregation, fusion and adhesion to the cell surface which causes a high

thermodynamic activity gradient of the drug at the vesicle-stratum corneum surface, which is the driving force for the penetration of

lipophilic drugs across the stratum corneum

New smaller vesicles are formed in skin

Niosomes diffuse from the stratum corneum layer of skin as a whole

NIOSOMES V/S LIPOSOMES

.Niosomes do not have any of these problems:

1) Niosomes are made of uncharged single-chain surfactant molecules

2) Structure of niosomes is different from that of liposomes

Liposomes face problems such as:

1) expensive

2) chemically unstable

ADVANTAGES OF NIOSOMES

Osmotically active

Increase the stability of the entrapped drug

Handling and storage of surfactants do not require any special conditions.

Can increase the oral bioavailability of drugs

Can enhance the skin penetration of drugs

can be used for oral, parenteral as well topical use.

The surfactants are biodegradable, biocompatible, and non-immunogenic .

Improve the therapeutic performance of the drug by protecting it from the biological environment and restricting effects to target cells

CONCLUSION

Niosomes are thoughts to be better candidates

drug delivery as compared to liposomes due to

various factors like cost, stability etc.

Various type of drug deliveries can be possible

using niosomes like targeting, ophthalmic, topical,

parentral etc.

file:///E:/M.PHARM%202SEM/Niosomes/niosomess/Niosome.htm

Book- Controlled and Novel Drug Dilevery by N.K. JAIN

Malhotra, M. & Jain, N.K., (1994). Niosomes as drug carriers. Ind

Drugs, Vol. 31

Azeem, A.; Anwer, M.K. & Talegaonkar, S., (2009).

Niosomes in sustained and targeted drug delivery: some recent

advances. J Drug Target, Vol. 17

NIOSOME: A PROMISING PHARMACEUTICAL DRUG

DELIVERY(http://www.ijpda.com/admin/uploads/AzYyEr.pdf)

Thank You