Aquasomes: A Nanocarrier System

Abstract 238 8.1 Introduction 238 8.2 Composition of Aquasomes 246 8.3 Formulation of Aquasomes 248 8.4 Characterization 255 8.5 Applications of Aquasomes (Juliano, 2005; Prausnitz, 2004;Paul and Sharma, 2001) 259 8.6 Recent Development 264 8.7 Conclusion 265 Keywords 266 References 266BHUSHAN RAJENDRA RANE1*, ASHISH S. JAIN1, NAYAN A. GUJARATHI2, and RAJ K. KESERVANI31Shri. D. D. Vispute, College of Pharmacy & Research Center, New Panvel, Mumbai University, Mumbai, India2Sandip Foundation, College of Pharmacy, Nasik, India3Faculty of Pharmaceutics, Sagar Institute of Research and Technology-Pharmacy, Bhopal 462041, India*Corresponding author. E-mail: rane7dec@gmail.comABSTRACTAquasomes are spherical, nanosized particles in the range between 5 and 925 nm, self-assembling biopharmaceutical carrier system, and contain nanosized crystalline core of calcium phosphate or ceramic diamond. Inert core is coated with a glassy oligomeric compound containing polyhydroxyl groups. Aquasomes can be used during delivery of drug and antigens. Aquasomes protect and preserve fragile biological molecules, so known as “bodies of water”; also, it possess conformational integrity and surface exposure. As a result, it is a successful carrier system for delivery of various biochemically active molecules like hormones, protein, peptide, genes, and antigens to specific sites. Targeting of bioactive molecules at specific sites is achieved due to its high degree of surface exposure. Calcium phosphate is the core of interest, due to its natural presence in the body. The brushite is used as core material for the preparation aquasomes to further formulate into implants as they are unstable and convert to hydroxyapatite upon prolong storage. Aquasomes have different applications such as red blood cell substitute, targeted system in gene therapy via intracellular route, and in delivery of viral antigen through vaccination. Aquasome acts as novel carrier for enzymes (DNAse), pigment, and dyes due to its sensitivity and enzyme activity toward molecular conformation.