Significance of Hepatoprotective Liver Specific Targeted Drug Delivery: A Review on Novel Herbal and Formulation Approaches in the Management of Hepatotoxicity

Background: The liver is the largest and vital organ present in all vertebrates. It performs various major functions such as detoxification, metabolism, protein synthesis, excretion and so on. Liver cells are divided into parenchymal cells and non-parenchymal cells. Hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, hepatic stellate cells and sinusoidal endothelial cells, etc. are found in liver having different receptors present on their surface which can be used for liver targeting by binding to different ligands. Objective: In this review, we focused on various factors such as drugs, plants; metals and so on are reported in literature to be responsible for causing hepatotoxicity, natural hepatoprotective agents and liver targeting via novel formulation approaches. Conclusion: All over the world, millions of people are affected by serious liver disorders which are very difficult to treat despite of many efforts. Hepatotoxicity is one of the major reasons due to which drugs continue to be taken off from the market. This review highlights the potential of various phytochemicals as hepatoprotective agents and various strategies which have been proposed to achieve liver targeting, including passive accumulation of therapeutic drug delivery system and active targeting by surface modifications of particulate formulation with specific ligands.