Abstract
Author(s): Jindal Keshav
Niosomes are the non-ionic surfactant vesicles and like liposomes are bilayeredstructures, which can entrap both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs either in an aqueous layer or in vesicular membrane, made up of lipids1. Niosomes are widely studied as an inexpensive alternative of non-biologicalorigin to liposomes or perhaps as carrier systems physically similar to liposomes, in vivo, with particular properties, which can be exploited to attain different drug distribution and releasecharacteristics. They have all the advantages of liposomes but their low cost, greater stability, and resultant ease of storage has led to the exploitation of non-ionic surfactants (niosomes) as alternatives to phospholipids.Niosomes have been widely evaluated for controlled release and targeted delivery for the treatment of cancer, viral infections and other microbial diseases.Theoretically, niosome formulation requires presence of a particular class of amphiphile and an aqueous system. Cholesterol is added in order to prepare vesicles, which are less leaky. In addition, stabilizers may be included to prevent vesicle aggregation by repulsive, steric, or electrostatic effect.This review article focuses on the advantages, Disadvantages, preparation methods, factors affecting, characterizations, invitro methods, drug release kinetics, and applications of noisome