Hollow structures as drug carriers: Recognition, response, and release

Abstract

Hollow structures have demonstrated great potential in drug delivery owing to their privileged structure, such as high surface-to-volume ratio, low density, large cavities, and hierarchical pores. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of hollow structured materials applied in targeting recognition, smart response, and drug release, and we have addressed the possible chemical factors and reactions in these three processes. The advantages of hollow nanostructures are summarized as follows: hollow cavity contributes to large loading capacity; a tailored structure helps controllable drug release; variable compounds adapt to flexible application; surface modification facilitates smart responsive release. Especially, because the multiple physical barriers and chemical interactions can be induced by multishells, hollow multishelled structure is considered as a promising material with unique loading and releasing properties. Finally, we conclude this review with some perspectives on the future research and development of the hollow structures as drug carriers.

Understanding the Catalytic Kinetics of Polysulfide Redox Reactions on Transition Metal Compounds in Li–S Batteries

“…Metal phosphides display moderate adsorption to polysulfides and similar conductivity compared with oxides and sulfides . Phosphides could form Li–P and P–S bonds with polysulfides through lipophilic interactions with a mild and economical preparation process relative to nitrides and carbides that introduces chemisorption and promotes the production of short-chain Li 2 S 2 /Li 2 S. , To date, metal phosphides such as CoP, , FeP, and Ni 2 P have attracted great attention in the field of Li–S systems (Table ).…”

Improving the Antimicrobial and Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Resins via Nanomodification: An Overview

“…In the case of non-biocide release coatings, they can be divided into different categories: (a) coatings that detach biofoulants (i.e., hydrophobic materials, such as fluorocarbons, hydrocarbons, and polydimethylsiloxanes); (b) coatings that inhibit microbial growth [ 49 , 96 ]; (c) coatings that prevent attachment of biofoulants (such as PEG-based materials for their resistance to protein adsorption and cells adhesion, or antimicrobial peptides) [ 1 , 97 , 98 , 99 ]; or (d) materials able to create a superhydrophobic surface, based on ZnO NPs functionalized with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane [ 100 ], or pluronic-lysozyme conjugate coatings [ 101 ]. Thus, the measurement of microbial adhesive forces represents a crucial topic [ 102 ].…”

“…The emergence of novel pathogenic viruses and antibiotic resistant human pathogens (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, parasites), due to their highly-mutative capacities and rapid morphological changes, have prompted research into alternative antimicrobial materials [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], including plastics with long-term biocidal activity in nanostructured “bulk” material, and bioactive surfaces, whose efficacy involves a direct contact (and subsequent localized reaction) for microbial inactivation.…”

Manganese-based hollow nanoplatforms for MR imaging-guided cancer therapies

“…To overcome the side effects and simultaneously improve the therapeutic outcome of conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT), various smart drug delivery systems (DDSs), especially hollow DDSs, have been explored [ 51 – 55 ]. The preparation strategies for high-quality hollow DDSs can be divided into two main categories: (1) sacrificial template-based methods, which exploit a variety of removable nanoparticles as hard templates (e.g., silica, polystyrene and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)) [ 56 – 61 ] or soft templates (e.g., Pluronic F127/TMB and gas bubbles) [ 62 , 63 ]; and (2) self-templating methods, which employ the transformation of self-generated internal solid nanoparticles to hollow structures during chemical reactions [ 64 – 68 ].…”