A Review of Niosomes as Novel Drug Delivery Systems

The aim of this review is to present the structure of niosome, benefits and drawbacks, fundamentals of niosome preparation and characterization as well as a description of their applications in drug delivery. This review will provide an overview on the increasing interest on niosomes in the field of drug delivery. Drug delivery systems are defined as formulations aiming for transportation of a drug to the desired area of action within the body. The basic component of drug delivery systems is an appropriate carrier that protects the drug from rapid degradation or clearance and thereby enhances drug concentration in target tissues. Drug targeting is a kind of phenomenon in which drug gets distributed in the body in such a manner that the drug interacts with the target tissue at a cellular or subcellular level to achieve a desired therapeutic response at a desire site without undesirable interactions at other sites. This can be achieved by modern methods of targeting the drug delivery system such as niosomes. Niosomes are the type of non-ionic surfactant vesicles, which are biodegradable, non-toxic, more stable and inexpensive, a new approach to liposomes. Their structure similar to liposome and hence they can represent alternative vesicular systems with respect to liposomes. The niosomes have the tendency to load different type of drugs.