Pharmaceutical Applications of Vesicle and Nanocarrier Delivery Strategies

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 958

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Interests: membrane fusion; nanoscale vesicles; delivery systems

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Guest Editor
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA
Interests: liposome; delivery vehicle; nanocarrier

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Guest Editor
Sr. Director, Ascendia Pharma, Inc., 661 US Highway One, North Brunswick, NJ 08902, USA
Interests: poorly soluble drugs; solubility and bioavailability; polymeric excipients; amorphous solid dispersions; hot melt extrusion; spray drying; controlled release; taste-masking; self emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS/SMEDDS); lipid nanoparticles; liposomes drug delivery; parenteral drug delivery; ophthalmic and ocular delivery, and transdermal drug delivery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The ever-expanding range of therapeutic approaches to human diseases often requires the important support of innovative and novel technologies for the delivery of each new paradigm to its intended target. In many ways, the development of safe and efficient delivery systems has been equally or even more challenging than the therapeutic entity itself.  Vesicular and nanoparticle formulations have met the needs of many of these therapies, and have even led to the launch of many new drugs to the market.

A prominent recent success has been the culmination of many decades of research to form efficacious lipid nanoparticles such as those used in vaccines. These basic nanoparticle formulations have provided a platform of sorts on which to build other modern therapies. However, as our understanding of cellular targets and the basic biology of delivery has expanded, it has become apparent that further work is needed to design and optimize smart delivery systems for each biological or cellular target. The many competing requirements in each situation continue to drive the development of new types of specialized delivery systems, and to fuel further growth and innovations for the development of new therapies requiring such systems to satisfy unmet medical needs.

We present here a group of contributions from across industry and academia, highlighting recent advances in these delivery strategies.

Dr. Paul Meers
Dr. Patrick L. Ahl
Dr. Shaukat Ali
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • nanoscale vesicles
  • outer membrane vesicles
  • delivery systems
  • liposome
  • delivery vehicle
  • nanocarrier
  • nanoparticle technologies
  • drug delivery

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 1830 KiB  
Article
Development and Evaluation of Azithromycin-Loaded Transethosomes for Enhanced Dermal Delivery and Antibacterial Efficacy
by Meriem Rezigue, Hadeia Mashaqbeh, Alaa A. A. Aljabali, Randa SH. Mansour and Iyad Hamzeh
Pharmaceutics 2025, 17(4), 400; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics17040400 - 21 Mar 2025
Viewed by 382
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The topical delivery of antibiotics through transethosomes shows promise for enhancing its dermal delivery for the treatment of skin infections. This study aimed to develop and characterize azithromycin-loaded transethosomes to enhance topical drug delivery and improve the antibacterial activity of azithromycin. [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: The topical delivery of antibiotics through transethosomes shows promise for enhancing its dermal delivery for the treatment of skin infections. This study aimed to develop and characterize azithromycin-loaded transethosomes to enhance topical drug delivery and improve the antibacterial activity of azithromycin. Methods: The prepared azithromycin formulations underwent assessment for various characteristics, including their vesicle dimensions, size distribution, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, and morphological features (via TEM analysis). Additionally, their thermal properties were examined through DSC analysis, and their stability was monitored over six months under refrigerated storage conditions. The sequential tape-stripping technique was employed to conduct ex vivo penetration studies on human skin. Interactions between transethosomes and stratum corneum lipids were examined using attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Additionally, the formulations were tested for their in vitro antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus. Results: The findings revealed that AZ 1 and AZ 2 had vesicle sizes of 108.44 ± 5.72 nm and 70.42 ± 6.02 nm, zeta potential measurements of −11.897 ± 1.820 mV and −34.575 ± 4.535 mV, and high entrapment efficiencies of 99.259 ± 0.086% and 99.560 ± 0.014%, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed the spherical nature of the vesicles, whereas differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirmed the successful encapsulation of azithromycin in transethosomes. The formulations exhibited acceptable physical stability at 4 °C for six months. Ex vivo studies revealed a significantly higher deposition of azithromycin in the skin by both transethosome formulations than by the drug solution (p < 0.05), with low systemic absorption. Among the formulations, AZ 2 resulted in much deeper skin penetration, with deeper dermal and epidermal layer deposition (1.388 ± 0.242 µg/cm2) compared to AZ 1 (four-fold higher, p < 0.05) and to the control drug solution (12 times more, p < 0.05). Analysis using ATR-FTIR suggested that azithromycin-loaded transethosomes improve the drug penetration by increasing the lipid fluidity and extracting lipids from the stratum corneum. Moreover, the transethosomes loaded with azithromycin demonstrated enhanced antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values that were lower than those of the free drug solution. Conclusion: The results highlight the promising potential of transethosomes as a novel topical drug delivery system for azithromycin that offers improved therapeutic effects against skin infections Full article
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