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Manufacture and Drug Delivery Applications of Silk Nanoparticles
Published on: October 8, 2016
Recent Progress in Stimuli-Responsive Intelligent Nano Scale Drug Delivery Systems: A Special Focus Towards
Vaidevi Sethuraman1, Kumar Janakiraman1, Venkateshwaran Krishnaswami2
1Centre for Excellence in Nanobio Translational Research (CENTRE), Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, University College of Engineering, Anna University, BIT Campus, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India.
Abstract:
Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers are gaining much attention due to their versatile multifunctional activities, including disease diagnosis and treatment. Recently, clinical applications of nano-drug delivery systems for cancer treatment pose a challenge due to their limited cellular uptake, low bioavailability, poor targetability, stability issues, and unfavourable pharmacokinetics. To overcome these issues, researchers are focussing on stimuli-responsive systems. Nanocarriers elicit their role through endogenous (pH, temperature, enzyme, and redox) or exogenous (temperature, light, magnetic field, ultrasound) stimulus. These systems were designed to overcome the shortcomings such as non-specificity and toxicity associated with the conventional drug delivery systems. The pH variation between healthy cells and tumor microenvironment creates a platform for the generation of pH-sensitive nano delivery systems. Herein, we propose to present an overview of various internal and external stimuli-responsive behavior-based drug delivery systems. Herein, the present review will focus specifically on the significance of various pH-responsive nanomaterials such as polymeric nanoparticles, nano micelles, inorganic-based pH-sensitive drug delivery carriers such as calcium phosphate nanoparticles, and carbon dots in cancer treatment. Moreover, this review elaborates the recent findings on pH-based stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems with special emphasis on our reported stimuli-responsive systems for cancer treatment.
Insights
Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers offer improved cancer treatment by overcoming limitations of conventional drug delivery. pH-sensitive nanomaterials like nanoparticles and micelles enhance drug efficacy and reduce toxicity.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers are crucial for advanced disease diagnosis and treatment.
- Conventional nano-drug delivery systems face challenges in clinical cancer therapy, including poor cellular uptake and bioavailability.
- Stimuli-responsive systems address these limitations by utilizing internal or external triggers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide an overview of internal and external stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems.
- To highlight the significance of pH-responsive nanomaterials in cancer treatment.
- To review recent findings on pH-based stimuli-responsive systems, including novel reported approaches.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on stimuli-responsive nanocarriers.
- Focus on pH-sensitive nanomaterials: polymeric nanoparticles, nanomicelles, calcium phosphate nanoparticles, and carbon dots.
- Analysis of endogenous (pH, temperature, enzyme, redox) and exogenous (temperature, light, magnetic field, ultrasound) stimuli.
Main Results:
- pH-responsive nanocarriers exploit the pH difference between healthy tissues and tumor microenvironments for targeted delivery.
- Various pH-sensitive nanomaterials demonstrate potential for enhanced cancer treatment efficacy.
- Specific focus on the advantages of polymeric nanoparticles, nanomicelles, inorganic nanoparticles, and carbon dots.
Conclusions:
- Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, particularly pH-sensitive ones, represent a promising strategy to overcome conventional drug delivery challenges in cancer therapy.
- pH-responsive systems offer improved specificity and reduced toxicity compared to traditional methods.
- Further research and development in pH-based stimuli-responsive systems hold significant potential for advancing cancer treatment.
