NIOSOMES A PROMISSING NANOCARRIER: A REVIEW Review Article MANJUSHA A. BHANGE 1 , ANIL M. PETHE * , AMRAPALI JADHAV 2 1* Department of Pharmaceutics, Datta Meghe College of Pharmacy, DMIHER (DU), Sawangi Meghe, Wardha-442001, Maharashtra, India. 2 anil.pethe@dmiher.edu.in Department of Pharmaceutics, Government College of Pharmacy, Aurangabad-431001, Maharashtra, India Email: Received: 29 Mar 2023, Revised and Accepted: 25 Aug 2023 ABSTRACT There are numerous traditional methods for applying medications to the skin. Transdermal has become a popular method of drug delivery in recent years for a variety of medications that are difficult to administer in other ways. Transdermal drug delivery has a number of advantages, the most important of which is the prevention of first-pass metabolism and the stomach environment, which would render the drug inactive. In addition to discussing in depth the various formulation techniques and permeability enhancement for improved therapeutic efficacy, a transdermal patch allows for the controlled release of medication into the patient, typically through membrane pores that house a reserve of medication or over body heat that melts thin layers of medication entrenched in the adhesive. The drug molecules can permeate the skin and be administered in this manner. Niosomes are vesicles made of non-ionic surfactants that are more stable, biodegradable, and generally harmless. Because surfactants are more chemically stable than lipids, niosomes are ideal for liposomes. The main topics of this review study are the concept of niosome, its benefits and drawbacks, composition, various type of transdermal formulation, enhancers using in this delivery and novel transdermal drug delivery, variables influencing niosomes, characterization, and use of noisome. Niosomes can be used to carry both amphiphilic and lipophilic drugs. Niosomes have great potential in targeted drug delivery of anticancer and anti-infective agents. This review article represents the structure of Niosomes, its advantages and disadvantages, types of niosomes, applications, method of preparation of niosomes. Keywords: Niosomes, Small unilamellar vesicle, Proniosomes, pH gradiant method, Ether injection, Future perspectives © 2023 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ijap.2023v15i6.47969. Journal homepage: https://innovareacademics.in/journals/index.php/ijap INTRODUCTION The transdermal drug delivery route has significant advantages over the conventional oral route. It can provide more patient compliance, especially in patients with swallowing problems, more stable serum drug levels, pain-free drug administration, avoiding hepatic first- pass metabolism and drug degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, food-drug interaction, and reducing side effects. Moreover, transdermal drug delivery is suitable for long-term administration, especially for insulin and analgesic drugs [1]. However, the low skin permeability, which limits drug penetration and inconsequence affects drug bioavailability, represents the most challenging mission for delivering drugs across the skin layers. Transdermal drug delivery system one of the innovative drug delivery methods that is advancing the fastest is transdermal drug delivery [2]. This medication delivery system was made to distribute drugs under control through the skin into the bloodstream while preserving consistent efficacy and lowering the dose and associated side effects. The most popular route, oral administration, expedites patient satisfaction but is more likely to cause hepatic first-pass metabolism, necessitating a higher dose of medication [3]. The main barrier to the inclusion of surfactants in lipid-based formulations is additional gastrointestinal irritability. The simultaneous dissemination of medicine throughout the body may result in unavoidable adverse effects. Therefore, the non-invasive, painless, and irritation-free topical delivery of definition may be a diverse strategy related to several benefits, counting the drug delivery to a particular location of activity with decreased systemic toxicity, evasion of first-pass metabolism and gastric irritation, increased release rate of the drug from formulation to induce superior percutaneous absorption, and for a minute topical application related to increasing bioavailability [4]. Also the limitation of niosomes having physical instability and aggregation also fusion of drug molecule and leaking of entrapped drug within formulation, hydrolysis of encapsulated drugs which limits the shelf life of the dispersion. Niosomal aqueous suspensions owe limited shelf life due to fusion. We can see aggregation, leaking of entrapped drugs, and hydrolysis of encapsulated drugs. The techniques involved in the niosomal formulation such as extrusion, sonication are time consuming and requires specialized equipment for processing. There are many transdermal delivery technologies on the market right now. However, the transdermal market is still only available for a few medications. The capacity which overcomes the problems related to penetration and skin irritation of the drug molecules will determine whether transdermal delivery technology [5]. Fig. 1: Beneficial effect of niosomes on different organ system [6] International Journal of Applied Pharmaceutics ISSN- 0975-7058 Vol 15, Issue 6, 2023