Niosomes: A prominent tool for transdermal drug delivery

Now-a-days a tremendous research work is going on to overcome the barrier properties of the skin. Recently niosomes have been reported for enhanced delivery of drugs. Niosomes are globular submicroscopic vesicles composed of nonionic surfactants. Meloxicam is used as model drug in the present study. Meloxicam entrapped niosomes were prepared by Thin film hydration technique using Nonionic surfactants (Span-80, Span-60, Tween-80 and Tween-60), Cholesterol and drug in different ratios. The prepared niosomes were characterized for size, shape, entrapment efficiency, In-Vitro drug release and In-Vivo performance. The niosomes appeared as round in shape and size range was found to be 1.54 – 2.64µm. Among all formulations FS804 shows high entrapment efficiency and consistent drug release pattern. In-Vivo anti inflammatory activity of niosomal gel prepared with FS804 was studied and compared with anti inflammatory activity of conventional meloxicam gel adopting Carrageenan induced rat paw edema method. The studies were demonstrated that niosomal gel was shown better pharmacological activity than the conventional meloxicam gel. Based on the results it was concluded that niosomal preparation offers more advantages than the conventional preparation.