Sunday, February 1, 2015

A Brief Overview Of The Liposomal Formulation

By Kristen Baird


Progress in research and development in the medical field is always a good indicator. Hope is bestowed when such advances take place as they signal for better and new ways to deal with diseases. Among such progress is the advent of liposomal formulation in aiding in quicker and better ways of dealing with several ailments.

The formulation is a rightful step in the advancement of drugs. The procedure was discovered to curb the unwanted effects of drugs being exhausted before reaching the target areas. The initial phase of the process involves encapsulating the drug in a layer of digestible and healthy phospholipids. There were several options on the table, but after further research, liposomes were found to be the most favorable carriers.

The simplicity of the liposomes' structural composition is key to its performance. They are made up of an aqueous solution which is engulfed in a strengthened mesh of either natural or synthetic phospholipids. The advantage of this is that it can fuse non-reactively with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs, each attaching to the element it does not react to.

Researchers have found the process of formation of these compounds may be critical to their performance. They are formed when strands of phospholipids are put in water, and a given heat amount is directed to them. The composition of the formed liposomes is tested against that of this drug it is intended to carry, so as to determine compatibility and avoid destructive reactions.

Advances such as these have led to further progress in the medical field. The most famous being development of Doxorubicin, a form of anthracycline. This is a drug that was developed to curb the spread of cancer. It does this in two stages, first, by inserting base stains of DNA and RNA molecules which inhibits replication of cells. The second phase is inhibition of an enzyme known as topoisomerase II, which serves the same purpose of inhibition of cellular growth.

It is due to advances in the medical field that control of many diseases is not a reality. Terminal illnesses previously viewed as a death sentence are now controllable and some even treatable. Research on cancer and liposomes has led to development of anti-cancer drugs an their carriers. The development has brought about continuing tests and usage of doxorubicin, paclitaxel, cisplatin, lipoplatin, aroplatin among others.

There has been considerable progress in the development of vaccines for diseases which do not have known cures. Such include hepatitis A, which now has a vaccine, Epaxal, under development. Inflexal V is a vaccine developed for several types of influenza especially in children. A vaccine for cancer known as Stimuvax is also in the offering.

The use of liposomes as a carrier for dietary supplements is a newer idea that I undergoing further research. The idea is to use the same technique as the currently successful targeted drug delivery to deliver various supplements taken orally to specific areas in the body. This is however still undergoing research and testing. The use of liposomes in creation of various drugs and vaccines has led to a huge leap in terms of drug research and development. The process of the formulation has thus been lauded as wielding enormous potential for development of better medical solutions for a lot of persistent medical conditions.




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