Photo-responsive polymeric nanocarriers for target-specific and controlled drug delivery

MARTÍN GIMÉNEZ, VIRNA M.; ARYA, GEETA; ZUCCHI, ILEANA A.; GALANTE, MARÍA J.; MANUCHA, WALTER

SOFT MATTER

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY

Año: 2021 vol. 17 p. 8577 - 8584

1744-683X

Conventional drug delivery systems often have several pharmacodynamic and pharmacokineticlimitations related to their low efficacy and bad safety. It is because these traditional systems cannotalways be selectively addressed to their therapeutic target sites. Currently, target-specific and controlleddrug delivery is one of the foremost challenges in the biomedical field. In this context, stimuliresponsivepolymeric nanomaterials have been recognized as a topic of intense research. They havegained immense attention in therapeutics ? particularly in the drug delivery area ? due to the ease oftailorable behavior in response to the surroundings. Light irradiation is of particular interest among externallytriggered stimuli because it may be specifically localized in a contact-free manner. Light?humanbody interactions may sometimes be harmful due to photothermal and photomechanical reactions thatlead to cell death by photo-toxicity and/or photosensitization. However, these limitations may also beovercome by the use of photo-responsive polymeric nanostructures. This review summarizes recentdevelopments in photo-responsive polymeric nanocarriers used in the field of drug delivery systems,including nanoparticles, nanogels, micelles, nanofibers, dendrimers, and polymersomes, as well as theirclassification and mechanisms of drug release.