TABLE 4.

Overview of Currently Available Lipid-Based Nanoparticles

Lipid carrier	Base composition	Assembly	Clinical applications	References
Liposomes (elastic, transfer-somes, magnetic), 25–200 nm, 1965 to date	Phospholipids, sphingolipids, cholesterol, PEGylated lipids	Phospholipid bilayer surrounding an aqueous core (well-characterized)	Doxil Ambiosome	52,294–297
SLN, 50–1000 nm, 1990s to date	Pure triglycerides, glyceride mixtures, waxes (primarily saturated fatty acid chains)	Solid lipid core, hydrophobic in nature, with a surfactant coating	Mouse studies Remains to be tested	201,221,229,298
NLC, 100–500 nm, 2000s to date	Pure triglycerides, glyceride mixtures, with saturated and unsaturated fatty acid chains, waxes	Second-generation SLN; blend of solid and liquid lipid phases	Mouse studies	212,299
Monolayer membrane structures: archaeosomes, vesicles from synthetic bolalipids and micelles	Natural bolaamphiphiles from archaebacteria, synthetic bolaamphiphiles with and without cholesterol, cholesteryl hemisuccinate, PEGylated lipids, and chitosan-lipid conjugates	Monolayer membrane surrounding an aqueous core, micelles, and a variety of cylindrical and fiber structures	May be potentially used for targeted drug delivery and imaging Under development Mouse studies	157,171,300