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Updated: Nov 7, 2025

Porous Silicon Microparticles for Delivery of siRNA Therapeutics
Published on: January 15, 2015
Smart gating porous particles as new carriers for drug delivery
Kamonchanok Thananukul1, Chariya Kaewsaneha2, Pakorn Opaprakasit2
1Univ Lyon, University Claude Bernard Lyon-1, CNRS, ISA-UMR 5280, 69622 Villeurbanne, France; School of Bio-Chemical Engineering and Technology, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT), Thammasat University, Pathum Thani 12121, Thailand.
Abstract:
The design of smart drug delivery carriers has recently attracted great attention in the biomedical field. Smart carriers can specifically respond to physical and chemical changes in their environment, such as temperature, photoirradiation, ultrasound, magnetic field, pH, redox species, and biomolecules. This review summarizes recent advances in the integration of porous particles and stimuli-responsive gatekeepers for effective drug delivery. Their unique structural properties play an important role in facilitating the diffusion of drug molecules and cell attachment. Various techniques for fabricating porous materials, with their major advantages and limitations, are summarized. Smart gatekeepers provide advanced functions such as "open-close" switching by functionalized stimuli-responsive polymers on a particle's pores. These controlled delivery systems enable drugs to be targeted at specific rates, time programs, and sites of the human body. The gate structures, gating mechanisms, and controlled release mechanisms of each trigger are detailed. Current ongoing research and future trends in targeted drug delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine applications are highlighted.
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