PLANTEROSOMES: A POTENTIAL PHYTO-PHOSPHOLIPID CARRIERS FOR THE BIOAVAILABILITY ENHANCEMENT OF HERBAL EXTRACTS

Planterosomes, term “PLANTERO” means plant while “SOME” means cell-like. A novel emerging technique applied to phytopharmaceutical for the enhancement of bioavailability of herbal extract for medicinal applications. Since the two major limiting factors for molecules to pass the biological membrane for their absorption in the blood stream mainly includes lipid solubility and molecular sizes. There are many plant extracts having excellent bioactivity in vitro but low or less in vivo because of their poor lipid solubility and improper size of the molecule or both which result in poor absorption and bioavailability of constituents from plant extract and are destroyed in the gastric fluids when taken orally. Planterosomes are recent advanced forms of herbal formulations that have enhanced absorption rate, producing better bioavailability than conventional herbal extracts. Since they have improved pharmacological and pharmacokinetic parameters, they can be used in the treatment of the acute and chronic liver disease. Planterosomes are prepared by non conventional methods. Planterosomes absorption in GIT is greater resulting in increased plasma level than individual component. They act as a bridge between novel delivery system and conventional delivery system. Phospholipids molecule acting as vital carrier made up of water soluble head and two fat soluble tails, due to this nature they possess dual solubility and thus acting as an effective emulsifier. These drug-phospholipids complex can be formulated in the form of solutions, suspensions, emulsions, syrup, lotion, gel, cream, aqueous microdispersions, pill, capsule, powder, granules and chewable tablets. Planterosomes just like Phytosomes technology effectively enhanced the bioavailability of many popular herbal extracts including milk thistle, Ginkgo biloba, grape seed and ginseng etc.