Nanostructured Lipid Carrier-based Topical Gels as Novel Drug Delivery System: A Comprehensive Overview

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are lipidic nanocarriers that recover the permanency and capacity of drug payloads. NLCs are well-known as second-generation lipid nanocarriers with an unstructured matrix, presenting potentially advantageous nanocarrier systems with marketable opportunities because of reproducible production methodologies and biocompatible lipidic excipients. These (NLCs) are now recognized as a very promising nanocarrier structure for the efficient delivery of drugs via different administration routes. In recent years, several NLC-based gels have been developed and evaluated for topical delivery of many drugs and other therapeutic agents. This review article presents an overview of NLC-based topical gels investigated to deliver drugs via ocular, dermal, and transdermal routes. In addition, the classification, manufacturing, characterizations, advantages, and disadvantages of NLCs are addressed in this article. We also discussed different evaluations of NLC-based topical gels.