The use of liposomes as drug carriers in ophthalmology

Extensive investigations examining the use of liposomes as drug carriers have been carried out over the past 25 years. The concept of employing liposomes as drug carriers in ophthalmology is more recent. A major advantage of employing liposomes in the eye is their ability to evade initially the mononuclear phagocytes that make the intravenous use of liposomes so challenging. Recent work suggests that there are several applications in which use of liposome-entrapped drugs may prove superior to other methods for the diagnosis and treatment of ocular disease. One promising strategy that bears further investigation is ligand-mediated targeting of liposome-entrapped drugs. In order for these types of vesicles to become commercially available, they will have to be proven to be more effective than other targeted drug delivery modalities. In the final analysis, a more complete understanding of the biological changes that occur in various pathological conditions in the eye is needed in order to design the most effective drug carriers for use in ophthalmology.