Plant Archives Volume 20 No. 2, 2020 pp. 3835-3844 e-ISSN:2581-6063 (online), ISSN:0972-5210 PHYTO-PHOSPHOLIPIDS COMPLEXES AS A POTENTIAL CARRIER FOR BIOACTIVES HAVING HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY Vandana Saini, Rajni Bala*, Sandeep Arora and Rakesh K. Sindhu Chitkara college of Pharmacy, Chitkara University, Punjab, India. ABSTRACT Various Phytoconstituents, despite having excellent bioactivity in-vitro fail to produce in-vivo actions due to their poor lipid solubility or improper molecular size or destruction in gut their by resulting in poor bioavailability. Phytosomes also known as phyto-phospholipid complexes are novel vesicular drug delivery systems used for enhancing the bioavailability of phytoconstituents present in herbal extracts. The phytosomes process produces a little cell due to which the important phytoconstituents of herbal extracts are protected from destruction by the digestive enzymes and bacteria present in gut. They offer better pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic properties and result in improved bioavailability than the conventional drug delivery systems. So the present review discusses the various techniques and additives used in the formulation and characterizations of phytosomes, Phytoconstituents have different pharmacological activities such as anti cancer, anti inflammatory, anti his taminic, anti oxidants, wound healing and hepotoprotective activity. With this point of view presented review also focus on various commercial formulations of phytosomes with their applications and their advantages over conventional formulations. Phosphatidyl choline used in the formulation of phytosomes has got additional therapeutic benefit of having hepatoprotective effect. So, when phosphatidylcholine is taken by the patient, it will show the synergistic effect to protect the liver with this aspect we also discuss the role of phytosomes in hepatoprotection. Key words: Phytosome, Hepatoprotection, Phyto-phospholipid complex, phytoconstituents, herbal extracts. Introduction The drug delivery system used for delivering the herbal medicines to the patient is long-established and outdated, resulting in poor efficacy of the drug. If the concept novel drug delivery technology is made functional in herbal medicine, it may help in increasing the efficacy and reducing the side effects of various herbal bioactive and extracts. This is the basic rational of adopting novel method of development for drug delivery in herbal medicines. For a long time herbal medicines were not considered for development as novel formulations owing to lack of scientific justification and lack of processing techniques, such as standardization, extraction and identification of individual drug components in complex poly herbal mixture. However, modern phytopharmaceutical research can challenge these scientific needs such as determination of pharmacokinetics, mechanism of action, site of action, accurate dose required and isolation of specific constituent form complex mixture etc. of herbal medicines required to be successfully incorporated into variety novel drug delivery systems, such as nanoparticles, microemulsions, phytosomes, matrix systems, solid dispersions, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles and so on. Phytosomal delivery systemis a patented technology developed by Indena, a leading Pharma manufacturer of drugs and nutraceuticals, to incorporate standardized plant extracts or water soluble or polar constituents to produce lipid compatible molecular complexes and improve their absorption and bioavailability. Phytosomes, complex of natural active ingredients and phospholipids, increase absorption of herbal extracts when applied topically or orally. Phytosomes are cell like structures which result from reacting the phospholipids with the standardized extract or polyphenolic compounds (likeflavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, xanthones) in a non-polar solvent, which are better absorbed, utilized than conventional herbal extracts (Gandhi et al., 2012l Kumar, 2017). Phospholipids are the main building blocks of life and are one of the major components of cellular membranes. In general, they are considered as natural digestive aid and carriers for both polar and non-polar active substances (Tripathy, 2013). *Author for correspondence : E-mail: rajni.bala@chitkara.edu.in