Vesicular drug delivery systems have gained wide attention in the field of nanotechnology. Among them proniosomes become the superior over other vesicular carriers. Proniosomes are dry formulations of water soluble nonionic surfactant coated carrier system which immediately forms niosomes upon hydration. They have the capability to overcome the instability problems associated with niosomes and liposomes and have the potential to improve solubility, bioavailability, and absorption of various drugs. Furthermore, they offer versatile drug delivery concept for enormous number of hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. They have the potential to deliver drugs effectively through different routes at specific site of action to achieve controlled release action and reduce toxic effects associated with drugs. This review discusses the general preparation techniques of proniosomes and mainly focus on the applications of proniosomes in drug delivery and targeting. Moreover, this review demonstrates critical appraisal of the literature for proniosomes. Additionally, this review extensively explains the potential of proniosomes in delivering drugs via different routes, such as oral, parenteral, dermal and transdermal, ocular, oral mucosal, vaginal, pulmonary, and intranasal. Finally, the comparison of proniosomes with niosomes manifests the clear distinction between them. Moreover, proniosomes need to be explored for proteins and peptide delivery and in the field of nutraceuticals and develop pilot plant scale up studies to investigate them in industrial set up.
Keywords: Proniosomes; advancements; drug delivery; hydration; niosomes; targeting; transdermal.