Progress and Prospects on the Development of Liposomes for Dermal and Transdermal Delivery Application in the Field of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Percutaneous administration has been used for about 3000 years in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). As carriers， liposomes have been proved to improve the skin disposition and/or transdermal absorption effects of TCM active components following percutaneous delivery， resulting in the enhanced therapeutic efficacy. In the present paper， the properties of skin， the history and status of TCM percutaneous application， the mechanism and affecting factors of liposomes acting on skin， the skin disposition of liposomes containing TCM active components and transdermal absorption of liposomes containing TCM active components were intensively summarized and discussed. A lot of novel liposomes were also introduced， including transfersomes， ethosomes， invasomes， glycerosomes and surface-modified liposomes. The prospects about correct development direction， the enhancement of drug preparation technique and the improvement of research technique were also proposed.