The key difference between phytosomes and liposomes is that phytosomes are complexes of natural active ingredients and phospholipids, while liposomes are spherical vesicles of a bilayer of phospholipids that enclose an aqueous solvent containing targeted drugs and nutrients.
Phytosomes and liposomes are two different types of delivery vesicles or formulations. They are also known as the king of nanoparticles, as they serve as imperative tools for the delivery of various active compounds and drugs into the human body. However, most phytosomes contain only plant-based molecules like flavanones and terpenes, which have poor solubility. On the other hand, liposomes can encapsulate both hydrophobic as well as hydrophilic molecules.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Phytosomes
3. What are Liposomes
4. Similarities – Phytosomes and Liposomes
5. Phytosomes vs Liposomes in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Phytosomes vs Liposomes
What are Phytosomes?
Phytosomes are complexes of natural active ingredients and phospholipids. Phospholipids normally occur as lecithin in phytosomes. Therefore, phytosomes are lipid-based vesicular systems that can be used for the encapsulation of drugs and plant-derived nutraceuticals like polyphenolic compounds. It is popularly believed that phytosomes increase the absorption of conventional herbal extracts or isolated active compounds both topically and orally.
Phytosomes aid the absorption of plant compounds in GI tracts. But as they are larger in size, they are filtered out by the liver before reaching systematic circulation. Complexation with phospholipids or phytosomes formulations has been applied to a number of popular herbal extracts, including ginkgo biloba, silybin isolated from milk thistle, curcumin isolated from turmeric, and green tea extracts. Moreover, phytosomes are mainly used to deliver plant molecules that have poor solubility in biological media.
Currently, scientists are trying to make phytosomes that can reach far beyond the GI tract without being filtered by the liver. Furthermore, phytosomes that contain herbal-originated polyphenolic compounds can be used very efficiently for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. This makes phytosomes a great encapsulation platform in the future.
What are Liposomes?
Liposomes are spherical vesicles of a bilayer of phospholipids that enclose an aqueous solvent containing targeted drugs and nutrients. Liposomes can be used for drugs and nutrient delivery, such as lipid nanoparticles in mRNA and DNA vaccines. They have phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol. But they may also sometimes contain other lipids like egg and phosphatidylethanolamine. Moreover, liposome design has a surface ligand to bind to unhealthy tissues. In liposomes, the targeted drugs and nutrients can be delivered within a lipid bilayer as well as in an aqueous solution based on their solubility.
Figure 01: Liposome
There are different types of liposome vesicles, such as multilamellar vesicle (MLV), small unilamellar liposome vesicle (SUV), large unilamellar vesicle (LUV), and cochleate vesicle. Furthermore, there are multivesicular liposomes that contain one or more smaller vesicles. This type of liposome is the least desirable for drug and nutrient delivery.
What are the Similarities Between Phytosome and Liposomes?
- Phytosomes and liposomes are two different types of delivery vesicles or formulations.
- Both formulations are nanoparticles.
- They contain phospholipids.
- Both formulations are used for the delivery of drugs and other active compounds.
- These formulations have better absorption.
- Both formulations are used to treat various diseases through targeted drug delivery.
- They are extremely important future delivery platforms for pharmaceutical companies.
What is the Difference Between Phytosomes and Liposomes?
Phytosomes are complexes of natural active ingredients and phospholipids, while liposomes are spherical vesicles of a bilayer of phospholipids that enclose aqueous solvents containing targeted drugs and nutrients. Thus, this is the key difference between phytosomes and liposomes. Furthermore, phytosomes mainly deliver plant-based molecules that have poor solubility; for example, flavanones and terpenes. On the other hand, liposomes can deliver both hydrophobic as well as hydrophilic molecules.
The below infographic presents the differences between phytosomes and liposomes in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Phytosomes vs Liposomes
Phytosomes and liposomes are two different types of delivery vesicles or formulations. They are also known as drugs and active compound delivery nanoparticles. Phytosomes are complexes of natural active ingredients and phospholipids, while liposomes are spherical vesicles of a bilayer of phospholipids that enclose an aqueous solvent containing targeted drugs and nutrients. So, this summarizes the difference between phytosomes and liposomes.
Reference:
1. Cuffari, Benedette. “What Is a Liposome?” News, 30 Jan. 2019.
2. “Phytosome.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Liposome scheme-en” By SuperManu – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia