LIPOSOMES - A NOVEL TOPICAL DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR PHARMACEUTICAL AND COSMETIC APPLICATIONS

This review will highlight work done in our laboratories evaluating to pical liposomal delivery in a wide variety of animal models and human skin using both in vivo and in vitro techniques. The mechanism by whic h liposomes facilitate deposition of drugs into the skin and some pote ntial applications of topically applied liposomes will be discussed. P articular emphasis will be placed on the development of analytical tec hniques that allow the quantification of drug levels in the various sk in strata and in pilosebaceous structures. Appropriate models of skin representing the two cases, as well as those wherein both routes are a vailable for skin deposition, were examined using a wide variety of li posomal preparations containing radiolabeled and fluorescent molecules as marker compounds.