Biodegradable and Biocompatible Nanoparticles

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, nanotechnology plays a key role in the development of pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. It is well-known, for example, for the high impact of nanomedicine on the therapeutics and diagnoses of cancer, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular diseases. In fact, a large number of nanoparticle-based therapeutics have been approved for clinical use, are under clinical trial, or are in preclinical phases of development. The interaction of nanotechnology and molecular biology provide the necessary tools to perform a non-invasive screening of different diseases and make feasible an early diagnosis to reduce patient risk and the progression of diseases. In addition, specific administration of therapeutics at the lesion site can easily be achieved to reduce adverse side effects.

Polymer-based colloid nanoparticles have great advantages, derived from the ability of organic synthesis to modify nature, molecular architecture, and composition, together with the possibility of being functionalized with specific ligands for active targeted drug delivery. Obviously, all selected materials must meet certain requirements: to be biodegradable, safe, biocompatible, and to adequately perform their function in the complex environment of an in vivo setting. In this way, a limited number of polymers have been considered up to now, corresponding the main families to polyesters (e.g., polylactide, polycaprolactone and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)), polysaccharides (e.g., chitosan and cyclodextrin), poly(alkyl cyanoacrylate)s and peptides/proteins. Covalent and non-covalent functionalization of nanoparticulate systems are facilitated by their large surface area, being probably lipid-based nanocarriers (e.g. liposomes), solid-lipid nanoparticles, polymeric micelles, and polymersomes, those mostly studied for drug delivery applications. Obviously, research efforts are also focused on optimizing the performance of such systems and to tune features, such as size, surface charge, drug loading, and release mechanism.

The development of adequate strategies to produce targeted nanocarriers for drug delivery requires also attention. These methods are functions of the selected polymeric material, and basically comprise self-assembling, emulsion-evaporation, and nanoprecipitation techniques. Different aspects, such as the knowledge of the effect of repeated nanocarrier administration, the polymeric biodistribution inside the cell and the body, and the excretion mechanism, also need to be carefully and deeply investigated.

This Special Issue of Applied Sciences will focus on the different systems, preparation methods, and biomedical uses of nanoparticulate systems. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to discuss, collect, and offer recent highlights and advances on the development of biodegradable and biocompatible nanoparticles suitable for therapeutics and diagnoses applications.

Prof. Dr. Jordi Puiggalí
Guest Editor

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• Nanoparticles
• Liposomes
• Polymersomes
• Micelles
• Nanoprecipitation
• Self assembling
• Surface functionalization
• Drug delivery
• Therapeutic applications
• Diagnostic applications
• Cancer treatment
• Polyesters
• Peptides