Niosomes – An Overview

Abstract

Non-ionic surfactant vesicles (or niosomes) are now widely studied as alternates to liposomes. An increasing number of non-ionic surfactant has been found to form vesicles, capable of entrapping hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules. The drug disposition by niosomal drug delivery proved that the drug accumulated in visceral organs (lung, kidney, liver, spleen) was lower than free drug.  Niosomes are uni or multilamellar vesicles formed from synthetic, non-ionic surfactant of alkyl or dialkyl poly glycerol ether class, offering an alternative to liposomes as drug carriers. Niosomes can entrap solutes in a manner analogous to liposomes, are relatively more stable in vitro and can improve the stability of entrapped drug as compared with stability in conventional dosage forms.

Keywords: Non-ionic surfactant, liposomes, visceral organs, multilamellar vesicles, niosomes, entrapped drug.