Proniosomes as a Drug Carrier for Transdermal Delivery of Herbal Drug

Over many millennia, natural products were the only means for food, to treat diseases and injuries. Recently in the field of pharmaceutical sciences great efforts are being directed towards herbal drugs by incorporating them in already existed drug delivery system to solve the problem related to poor solubility, poor bioavailability, dosing problem, stability, toxicity etc. Curcumin is a yellow pigment isolated from the rhizome of perennial herb Curcuma longa family Zingiberaceae and has been popularly used as a food additive. Transdermal drug delivery has been recognized as an alternative route to oral delivery. Proniosomes offer a versatile vesicle delivery concept with the potential for drug delivery via the transdermal route In present study proniosomal carrier system of curcumin for transdermal delivery were developed by encapsulating curcumin in Tween 60, cholesterol, diethyl ether by ether injection method. The formulated systems were characterized for size, vesicle count, drug entrapment, angle of repose, rate of hydration, drug release profiles and vesicular stability at different storage conditions. In-vitro release studies were performed by using albino rat skin for 24 hrs.