Recent trends in drug delivery systems: liposomal drug delivery system--preparation and characterisation

Liposomes are potential drug carriers for variety of drugs, therapeutic proteins and diagnostic agents. Drug entrapment ability of liposomes makes it more useful in targetting of drugs to specific site within the body. Major components of liposomes include lipids, water, drugs, electrolytes, antioxidants, preservatives and viscosity inducing agents. Considering the widespread use of liposomes in drug therapy and problem of physico-chemical instabilities of liposomes, this article aims at giving an insight into various methods of preparation of different types of liposomes like, unilamellar and multilamellar vesicles, consideration of some critical aspects of manufacturing processes and the characterization of liposomal drug delivery system in reference to vesicle size distribution, determination of residual organic phase in the phospholipid bilayer system, per cent drug encapsulation and identification.