A Novel Approach for Topical Drug Delivery: Liposome Based Gel

Liposomes are simple vesicles in which an aqueous phase is enclosed by a phospholipidic membrane. They are suitable models mimicking specific situations occurring in vivo and they allow study of the influence of physicochemical and biochemical factors on the uptake of drugs by tissues, their mechanisms of action and the subsequent pharmacological action. The chapters contributed deal with a variety of methods for the preparation of liposomes and an array of auxiliary techniques required for liposome characterization and development, describe procedures for incorporation of a number of drugs into liposomes selected for their relevance to current trends in liposomology and devoted to technologies generating liposomes that can function in a ¿¿targeted¿¿ fashion and to approaches of studying the interaction of liposomes with the biological milieu. It has been a pleasure for me to undertake this task of bringing together so much knowledge, experience, and wisdom so generously provided by liposomologist friends and colleagues. It is to be hoped that the book will prove useful to anyone involved in drug delivery, especially those who have entered the field recently and need guidance.