Author(s): Prachi Udapurkar, Omprakash Bhusnure, Santosh Kamble and Kailash Biyani

Abstract: The herbal drugs comprising major amount of active constituents with excellent bioactivity in vitro but less in vivo because of their poor lipid solubility and improper size of the molecules. This results in poor absorption and bioavailability of active constituents from herbal extract. A phyto-phospholipid complex vesicle (Phytosome) is the promising emerging technique applied to pharmaceuticals for the enhancement of bioavailability of herbal extracts and phytoconstituents. Phytosome are advanced forms of herbal formulations contains the bioactive phytoconstituents of herbal extract and has good ability to transition from a hydrophilic into the lipophilic environment of the cell membrane, exhibit better pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile than conventional herbal extracts. They can be formulated in the form of various dosage forms like suspensions, capsules, creams, gels etc. This article overviews recent advance in phytosome technology, their application for various standardized herbal extracts and aims to provide complete scientific information about phytosomes as promising drug delivery system.