Sophisticated Nanostructures for Advanced Drug Delivery

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 5766

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy, Keimyung University, Republic of Korea
Interests: solubilization; BA enhancement; nanomedicine; protein and peptide formulation; cell penetrating peptide; polymeric micelles; liposomes

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Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea
Interests: self-emulsifying nano drug delivery systems; cancer therapy; polymeric micelles; cell-penetrating peptides; liposomes; BA enhancement; PLGA microspheres; nanomedicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomedicines are a rapidly emerging research area in the field of drug delivery systems. Nanomedicines can be manufactured from a wide variety of materials such as natural and synthetic polymers, lipids, DNA, and inorganic substances. By controlling the size, shape, surface tension, and surface charge of particles, they are applied to cancer treatment; inflammatory disease treatment; and targeting of cells, tissues, and organs, and they are long-acting in the body. In addition, endless research is being conducted by conjugating polyethyleneglycol, cell penetrating peptides, aptamers, Extra Cellula Matrix (ECM) components, and antibodies or peptide ligands to the surface of nanomedicines.

The purpose of this Issue is to gather interesting information from sophisticated nanostructure-based drug-delivery-system researchers who are particularly interested in the pharmaceutical science and nanomedicine fields. Research articles and reviews on the design, development, and characterization of innovative nanostructured carriers, improved drug stability, targeting, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles, and pharmacological investigations, as well as their application to medical and biomedical aspects, are also welcome.

Dr. Sangkil Lee
Dr. Young Wook Choi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • nanostructured carriers
  • nanomedicine
  • polymer nanoparticles
  • polymeric micelles
  • mixed micelles
  • dendrimers
  • lipid-based nanoparticles
  • liposomes
  • self-assembled nanoparticles
  • inorganic nanoparticles
  • antibody conjugation
  • colloidal drug-delivery systems
  • hydrophobic ion-pairing
  • self-emulsifying
  • PEGylation
  • core-shell structure
  • nano/microencapsulation
  • surface modification
  • drug targeting
  • long-acting
  • sustained release

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 5226 KiB  
Article
PEG Graft Polymer Carriers of Antioxidants: In Vitro Evaluation for Transdermal Delivery
by Justyna Odrobińska, Magdalena Skonieczna and Dorota Neugebauer
Pharmaceutics 2020, 12(12), 1178; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12121178 - 3 Dec 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2886
Abstract
The in vitro biochemical evaluation of the applicability of polymers carrying active substances (micelles and conjugates) was carried out. Previously designed amphiphilic graft copolymers with retinol or 4-n-butylresorcinol functionalized polymethacrylate backbone and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side chains that included Janus-type heterografted [...] Read more.
The in vitro biochemical evaluation of the applicability of polymers carrying active substances (micelles and conjugates) was carried out. Previously designed amphiphilic graft copolymers with retinol or 4-n-butylresorcinol functionalized polymethacrylate backbone and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side chains that included Janus-type heterografted copolymers containing both PEG and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) side chains were applied as micellar carriers. The polymer self-assemblies were convenient to encapsulate arbutin (ARB) as the selected active substances. Moreover, the conjugates of PEG graft copolymers with ferulic acid (FA) or lipoic acid (LA) were also investigated. The permeability of released active substances through a membrane mimicking skin was evaluated by conducting transdermal tests in Franz diffusion cells. The biological response to new carriers with active substances was tested across cell lines, including normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF), human epidermal keratinocyte (HaCaT), as well as cancer melanoma (Me45) and metastatic human melanoma (451-Lu), for comparison. These polymer systems were safe and non-cytotoxic at the tested concentrations for healthy skin cell lines according to the MTT test. Cytometric evaluation of cell cycles as well as cell death defined by Annexin-V apoptosis assays and senescence tests showed no significant changes under action of the delivery systems, as compared to the control cells. In vitro tests confirmed the biochemical potential of these antioxidant carriers as beneficial components in cosmetic products, especially applied in the form of masks and eye pads. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sophisticated Nanostructures for Advanced Drug Delivery)
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Review

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16 pages, 1481 KiB  
Review
Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Core-Shell Nanodrug Systems in Targeted Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer
by Gauta Gold Matlou and Heidi Abrahamse
Pharmaceutics 2021, 13(11), 1773; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13111773 - 23 Oct 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2334
Abstract
Hybrid inorganic-organic core-shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) are an emerging paradigm of nanodrug carriers in the targeted photodynamic therapy (TPDT) of cancer. Typically, metallic cores and organic polymer shells are used due to their submicron sizes and high surface to volume ratio of the metallic [...] Read more.
Hybrid inorganic-organic core-shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) are an emerging paradigm of nanodrug carriers in the targeted photodynamic therapy (TPDT) of cancer. Typically, metallic cores and organic polymer shells are used due to their submicron sizes and high surface to volume ratio of the metallic nanoparticles (NPs), combined with enhances solubility, stability, and absorption sites of the organic polymer shell. As such, the high loading capacity of therapeutic agents such as cancer specific ligands and photosensitizer (PS) agents is achieved with desired colloidal stability, drug circulation, and subcellular localization of the PS agents at the cancer site. This review highlights the synthesis methods, characterization techniques, and applications of hybrid inorganic-organic CSNPs as loading platforms of therapeutic agents for use in TPDT. In addition, cell death pathways and the mechanisms of action that hybrid inorganic-organic core-shell nanodrug systems follow in TPDT are also reviewed. Nanodrug systems with cancer specific properties are able to localize within the solid tumor through the enhanced permeability effect (EPR) and bind with affinity to receptors on the cancer cell surfaces, thus improving the efficacy of short-lived cytotoxic singlet oxygen. This ability by nanodrug systems together with their mechanism of action during cell death forms the core basis of this review and will be discussed with an overview of successful strategies that have been reported in the literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sophisticated Nanostructures for Advanced Drug Delivery)
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