As an alternative to oral route, transdermal route of drug delivery was developed because of its limitations. This delivery has limitations in permeation of most drugs. One approach to this problem has been to use lipid-based vesicles as drug carriers as proniosomes which on hydration become niosomes. In the present study transdermal Nifedipine proniosomal gels was formulated by using Lecithin, Cholesterol as encapsulating agents, Surfactant, Span, Tween and permeation enhancers. The study

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... dology encompasses compatibility studies using FTIR spectra, evaluation of proniosomal gels for Vesicle size analysis, encapsulation efficiency, SEM analysis and in vitro permeation studies. The preliminary compatibility studies conducted revealed that there no interaction between Nifedipine and exicipients which was as evident from FTIR spectral studies. The physical characterization of proniosomal gels was found to be within the acceptable limits. It was observed that the gel formulations showed good spreadability. The proniosomes showed spherical and homogenous structure in optical microscopy and SEM analysis. All formulations showed zero order drug release by diffusion mechanism. The above results indicated that the proniosomal gels of could be formulated for controlled release of Nifedipine. The proniosomal gels are suitable for Nifedipine once a day controlled release formulation.