Mesoporous silica materials: From physico-chemical properties to enhanced dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles functionalized with hyaluronic acid. Effect of the biopolymer chain length on cell internalization

“…In this context ordered mesoporous silica was used for the first time in 2001 by Vallet-Regì and coworkers [16], and, as a result of peculiar features such as high surface area and pore volume that allow for drug adsorption and controlled release, received great attention since then [10,11,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

Mesoporous Silica‐Based Materials with Bactericidal Properties

“…As mentioned in the above sections, internal/external surface of MS can be functionalized by diverse agents ( Scheme ), resulting in great opportunities to design and construct antibacterial structures for instance due to the attachment of well‐known bactericides, by including the bactericides in the pores for a sustained cargo release or via the incorporation in the MS structure of nanoparticles known for their antimicrobial activity. Moreover, although MS NPs are feasible structures to generate effective DDSs, it is imperative to control the pore opening, which in turn is responsible for the cargo releasing . Thus, once the mesopores are loaded with a cargo, the pore outlets of the MS can be blocked by diverse organic or inorganic “molecular gates” to prevent undesired premature leakage.…”

“…An important feature of multifunctional MS to consider for the design delivery systems is their possibility to selectively deliver antimicrobians to prevent unwanted side effects to healthy cells caused by nontargeted release. In order to achieve this goal, passive or active targeting, or combination of them is required . In cancer therapy, passive targeting relies on the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect of tumors, an effect of their unique physiology and metabolic rates.…”

“…Moreover, although MS NPs are feasible structures to generate effective DDSs, it is imperative to control the pore opening, which in turn is responsible for the cargo releasing. [58][59][60][61] Thus, once the mesopores are loaded with a cargo, the pore outlets of the MS can be blocked by diverse organic or inorganic "molecular gates" to prevent undesired premature leakage. Moreover, the poreblockers should respond to appropriate external or internal triggers to close or open the well-defined pores, causing on-demand intelligent cargo delivery.…”

“…In order to achieve this goal, passive or active targeting, or combination of them is required. [49,59,64,115] In cancer therapy, passive targeting relies on the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect of tumors, an effect of their unique physiology and metabolic rates. Existing evidences showed that EPR effect is not only present in tumors, but also exists in bacterial infections.…”