Abstract

A REVIEW ON NANOEMULSION: AN ADVANCED MODE OF DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Lalita Chauhan* and Shalini Gupta

ABSTRACT

Nanoemulsions are the advanced mode of drug delivery system which act as drug carriers for improving the delivery of therapeutic agents. These are submicron sized emulsions and has been developed to overcome the major limitations associated with conventional drug delivery systems. This is a single phase emulsion in which two immiscible liquids (water and oil) are mixed along with emulsifying agents (surfactants and co-surfactants). For enhancing the delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredient, nanoemulsions are formulated. The main difference between macroemulsion, microemulsion and nanoemulsion is based on their size, shape, method of preparation, stability and polydispersity. For the formulation aspects, different technologies adopted like Ultrasonic emulsification. High pressure homogenization, Phase inversion temperature, Microfluidization, Spontaneous emulsification, Solvent evaporation technique and Hydrogel method. Various characterization techniques such as Floccualtion& creaming, Cracking, Miscellaneous instability and evaluation parameter like Dye solublitiy, Dilutability test, Refractive Index, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), In vitro skin permeation studies and many more are used for the nanoemulsions. Nanoemulsions are used in many field such as biotechnology and many delivery systems like parenteral, transdermal, intranasal, topical, ocular, oral and cancer therapy. In this review article an attempt has been made to describe the formulation aspects andmethod of preparation, characterization techniques, evaluation parameters, and various applications of nanoemulsion.

Keywords: Nanoemulsion, Emulgents, Drug delivery, High pressure homogenization.