Polysaccharide/mesoporous silica nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems: A review

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been well-researched in the design and fabrication of advanced drug delivery systems (DDSs) due to their advantages such as good biocompatibility, large specific surface area and pore volume for drug loading, easily surface modification, adjusted size and good thermal/chemical stability. For MSN-based DDSs, gate materials are also necessary. And natural polysaccharides, one kind of the most abundant natural resource, have been widely applied as the "gatekeepers" in MSN-based DDSs. Polysaccharides are cheap and rich in sources with good biocompatibility, and some of them have important biological functions. In this review article, polysaccharides including chitosan, hyaluronic acid, sodium alginate and dextran, et al. are briefly introduced. And the preparation processes and properties such as controlled drug release, cancer targeting and disease diagnosis of functional polysaccharide/MSN-based DDSs are discussed.