Figure 5.

Proposed mechanism of skin penetration by transfersomes. (Top): computer-simulated distribution of more (red, e.g., a surfactant) or less (blue, e.g., a phospholipid) water-soluble molecules with hydrophobic (yellow) chains arranged in a mixed amphipathic spherical bilayer as a function of predefined vesicle shape. (Middle): a simulation of a highly deformable, infinitely permeable, non-destructible vesicle forced by a horizontal gradient into a pore with 0.5 smaller diameters. (Bottom): an electromicrograph of elongated, deformable vesicles in an inter-corneocyte water-filled channel within the human stratum corneum following the application of a lipid preparation on its open surface. Reproduced from Reference [37] with permission.