Elaboration and Physicochemical Characterization of Niosome-Based Nioplexes for Gene Delivery Purposes.

Niosome formulations for gene delivery purposes are based on nonionic surfactants, helper lipids, and cationic lipids that interact electrostatically with negatively charged DNA molecules to form the so-called nioplexes. Niosomes are elaborated by different techniques, such as solvent emulsion-evaporation, thin film hydration, hand-shaking, dissolvent injection, and microfluidization method, among many others. In this chapter, we have described some protocols for the elaboration of niosomes and nioplexes and their physicochemical characterization that guarantees the quality criteria of the formulation in terms of size, morphology, ζ-potential, and stability.