ABSTRACT

In 1986, Payne et al. (1986a, 1986b) described a novel approach to producing liposomes which involved coating sorbitol powder with lipids dissolved in organic solvent. The powder could then be dissolved in hot water to form a liposomal suspension. The authors published other works describing the process and the resulting liposomes (Payne and Whitehouse, 1987; Payne et al., 1987). This group, and later Leigh, patented aspects of the proliposome process (Payne et al., 1986c; Leigh, 1991). The patents describe the possibility of using nonionic surfactants with this approach, but no published work with proliposomes made with nonionic surfactants until Hu and Rhodes first presented their results in 1996 (Hu, 1995; Hu and Rhodes, 1996a; Hu and Rhodes, 1996b). “Proniosomes” could be made with an approach similar to that used by Payne et al. for use as a carrier for nonpolar or amphiphilic drugs. Based on this data, it was concluded that proniosome-derived niosomes were similar to niosomes produced by conventional methods (Baille et al., 1985; Azmin et al., 1985; Yoshida et al., 1992; Yoshioka et al., 1994) but were easier to produce and store and were more uniform. In this chapter, we will review Payne’s work with proliposomes and then consider the results of Rhodes and Hu with proniosomes.