Nanocarriers for Biomedicine: From Lipid Formulations to Inorganic and Hybrid Nanoparticles

Abstract

Encapsulation of cargoes in nanocontainers is widely used in different fields to solve the problems of their solubility, homogeneity, stability, protection from unwanted chemical and biological destructive effects, and functional activity improvement. This approach is of special importance in biomedicine, since this makes it possible to reduce the limitations of drug delivery related to the toxicity and side effects of therapeutics, their low bioavailability and biocompatibility. This review highlights current progress in the use of lipid systems to deliver active substances to the human body. Various lipid compositions modified with amphiphilic open-chain and macrocyclic compounds, peptide molecules and alternative target ligands are discussed. Liposome modification also evolves by creating new hybrid structures consisting of organic and inorganic parts. Such nanohybrid platforms include cerasomes, which are considered as alternative nanocarriers allowing to reduce inherent limitations of lipid nanoparticles. Compositions based on mesoporous silica are beginning to acquire no less relevance due to their unique features, such as advanced porous properties, well-proven drug delivery efficiency and their versatility for creating highly efficient nanomaterials. The types of silica nanoparticles, their efficacy in biomedical applications and hybrid inorganic-polymer platforms are the subject of discussion in this review, with current challenges emphasized.

RETRACTED: Liposomes: Structure, Biomedical Applications, and Stability Parameters With Emphasis on Cholesterol

“…Liposomes are lipid bilayer spherical membranes that provide both hydrophilic and hydrophobic environments. Adjustability, flexibility, variety of ingredients, ease of functionalization, tunability of the number of layers/sizes, biocompatibility, and biodegradability have turned liposomes into incredible structures in medicine, especially drug delivery ( Aguilar-Pérez et al, 2020 ; Trucillo et al, 2020 ; Kashapov et al, 2021 ), most notable use of these structures being in cosmetics and drug delivery. Consequently, various liposome-based products have been commercialized to date, with the approval from United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ( Yuba, 2020 ; Barenholz, 2021 ).…”

Brain Metastasis Treatment: The Place of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and How to Facilitate Their Diffusion across the Blood–Brain Barrier

“…These nanoparticles have several advantages: (i) because of their small size, which normally does not exceed 100 nm, and their lipophilicity, they can cross the blood–brain barrier and accumulate at the tumor site as a result of the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect; (ii) they can be loaded with different drugs. (iii) Finally, liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles ensure elimination of the product and limited toxicity because they are biodegradable [ 112 , 113 ].…”

Self-Assembling Drug Formulations with Tunable Permeability and Biodegradability

“…From the viewpoint of biomedical application, a further avenue for research would be to focus on the design of versatile amphiphilic platforms with stimuli-responsive functions and targeted moieties responsible for the construction of surface-active agents with controlled morphological behavior and addressed biological function. In this context, surfactants with the pHdependent group, macrocyclic derivatives, metallosurfactants, and amphiphilic peptides are of special interest [5,24].…”

“…At the same time, cationic surfactants are known to be rather toxic and poorly degradable [22], which limits their application. To avoid this limitation, different strategies are used, e.g., design of novel cationic surfactants with the head group differing from ammonium and bearing natural fragments, the enrichment of formulations with nontoxic nonionic surfactants, and the noncovalent modification of nontoxic lipid nanocarriers with minor additives of cationic surfactants to achieve balance between beneficial functionality and acceptable toxic effect [9,16,19,23,24].…”