Comparative Study of Conventional and Fatty Acid Vesicular Systems – An Overview

: Fatty acid vesicles are suspensions of closed lipid bilayers that are composed of fatty acids and their ionized species which are restricted to a narrow pH range. The fatty acid molecules are oriented in such a way that their hydrocarbon tails are directed toward the membrane interior and the carboxyl groups are in contact with water. Recent innovations provide an opportunity to formulate fatty acid vesicles with distinguishing features such as extension of pH range, insensitivity toward divalent cations, easy alteration in membrane composition, very simple systems in terms of chemical nature and enhanced stability properties. This review contains detail about the present stature of fatty acid vesicles, comparative study of fatty acid vesicles with conventional liposomes, unique features of fatty acid vesicles (dynamicity, stability, matrix effect etc.,) and key evaluation parameters of fatty acid vesicles. Fatty acid vesicles were found to have high penetration capacity, good bio-distribution properties, increased diffusion rate and optimum drug deposition nature than other vesicular forms. They have various applications in transdermal delivery, follicular delivery and in brain targeting drug delivery systems (drugs that are unable to cross blood brain barrier due to high solubility). This review focuses on various researches conducted on fatty acid vesicles with reference to its formulation and evaluation parameters. © 2020 iGlobal Research and Publishing Foundation. All rights reserved.