Liposome mediated encapsulation and role of chitosan on modulating liposomal stability to deliver potential bioactives-A review

Abstract

Liposomes are amphiphilic structures widely explored for the encapsulation of various active ingredients in the area of pharmaceutics, cosmetics and numerous others. Wherein, the conventional liposomal structure is found to possess certain drawbacks with regard to their stability and release kinetics of active ingredients. Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide that exhibits structural stability, excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, flexibility, non-immunogenicity and targetability. Coating of chitosan to liposomes have found to modulate the bio functionality of liposome vesicles in terms of stability and release kinetics and therefore chitosan coated liposomes (chitosomes) remain as efficient carrier to transport potential bioactives to the targeted sites effectively. This review highlights the liposomal mediated encapsulation methods and induces insights to employ modulation of liposomal stability by chitosan coating to liposomes for the facile transport of active ingredients for multiple applications.