Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Sep 15;13(9):1475.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13091475.

Phytosomes as an Emerging Nanotechnology Platform for the Topical Delivery of Bioactive Phytochemicals

Waleed S Alharbi  1 , Fahad A Almughem  2 , Alshaimaa M Almehmady  1 , Somayah J Jarallah  2 , Wijdan K Alsharif  2 , Nouf M Alzahrani  2 , Abdullah A Alshehri  2
Affiliations
Review

Phytosomes as an Emerging Nanotechnology Platform for the Topical Delivery of Bioactive Phytochemicals

Waleed S Alharbi et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

The emergence of phytosome nanotechnology has a potential impact in the field of drug delivery and could revolutionize the current state of topical bioactive phytochemicals delivery. The main challenge facing the translation of the therapeutic activity of phytochemicals to a clinical setting is the extremely low absorption rate and poor penetration across biological barriers (i.e., the skin). Phytosomes as lipid-based nanocarriers play a crucial function in the enhancement of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of herbal-originated polyphenolic compounds, and make this nanotechnology a promising tool for the development of new topical formulations. The implementation of this nanosized delivery system could enhance the penetration of phytochemicals across biological barriers due to their unique physiochemical characteristics, improving their bioavailability. In this review, we provide an outlook on the current knowledge of the biological barriers of phytoconstituents topical applications. The great potential of the emerging nanotechnology in the delivery of bioactive phytochemicals is reviewed, with particular focus on phytosomes as an innovative lipid-based nanocarrier. Additionally, we compared phytosomes with liposomes as the gold standard of lipid-based nanocarriers for the topical delivery of phytochemicals. Finally, the advantages of phytosomes in topical applications are discussed.

Keywords: drug delivery; nanocarriers; phytochemicals; phytosomes; skin barrier; topical application.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Figurative representation of structural comparison between different lipid-based drug delivery systems (phytosomes, liposomes, and transferosomes). In the preparation step of phytosomes, phytochemicals are mixed with phospholipids to make phytochemical-phospholipid complex. This complex is mixed with cholesterol in suitable solvent to make phytosomes [91]. In case of liposomes and transferosomes preparation, phospholipid is mixed first with lipids to make the liposomal vesicle. Then, the phytochemical is incorporated in the liposome later [97,98]. (B) Represent the composition of phospholipid moiety. The phospholipid is composed of a polar head (which contains phosphate group) and hydrophobic tail (which composed of fatty acid chains). The most common example of polar head is PC. The chemical structure in the figure is the typical structure of the phospholipid derived from the soybean.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Simplified structure of the skin and its barriers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanism of transdermal drug delivery.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The chemical structure of major classes of phytochemicals.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scheme demonstrating examples of phytocompounds incorporated into a phytosomal delivery system.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jasemi S.V., Khazaei H., Aneva I.Y., Farzaei M.H., Echeverría J. Medicinal Plants and Phytochemicals for the Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension. Front. Pharmacol. 2020;11 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.00145. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oveissi V., Ram M., Bahramsoltani R., Ebrahimi F., Rahimi R., Naseri R., Belwal T., Devkota H.P., Abbasabadi Z., Farzaei M.H. Medicinal plants and their isolated phytochemicals for the management of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: Therapeutic targets and clinical perspective. DARU J. Pharm. Sci. 2019;27:389–406. doi: 10.1007/s40199-019-00255-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kooti W., Servatyari K., Behzadifar M., Asadi-Samani M., Sadeghi F., Nouri B., Marzouni H.Z. Effective Medicinal Plant in Cancer Treatment, Part 2: Review Study. J. Evid.-Based Integr. Med. 2017;22:982–995. doi: 10.1177/2156587217696927. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. O’Hagan D. Pyrrole, pyrrolidine, pyridine, piperidine and tropane alkaloids (1998 to 1999) Nat. Prod. Rep. 2000;17:435–446. doi: 10.1039/a707613d. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zengin G., Guler G.O., Aktumsek A., Ceylan R., Picot C.M.N., Mahomoodally M.F. Enzyme Inhibitory Properties, Antioxidant Activities, and Phytochemical Profile of Three Medicinal Plants from Turkey. Adv. Pharmacol. Sci. 2015;2015:1–8. doi: 10.1155/2015/410675. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources