Optically responsive delivery platforms: from the design considerations to biomedical applications

Abstract

Drug carriers with intelligent functions are powerful therapeutic and diagnostic platforms in curing various diseases such as malignant neoplasms. These functions include the remote noninvasive activation of drug using physical impacts, e.g. light exposure. Combination of different therapeutic modalities (chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and so forth) with light-responsive carriers enables promising synergetic effect in tumour treatment. The main goal of this review article is to provide the state of the art on light-sensitive delivery systems with the identification of future directions and their implementation in tumour treatment. In particular, this article reviews the general information on the physical and chemical fundamental mechanisms of interaction between light and carrier systems (e.g. plasmonic and dielectric nanoparticles), the design of optically responsive drug carriers (plain and composite), and the mechanisms of light-driven controlled release of bioactive compounds in biological environment. The special focus is dedicated to the most recent advances in optically responsive bioinspired drug vehicles.

Layer-by-Layer technique as a versatile tool for gene delivery applications

“…Embedding of plasmonic or dielectric NPs between polymer layers enables light sensitivity of LbL delivery platforms. Particularly, plasmonic NPs convert some part of the light energy into heat due to resonant interaction of the electromagnetic field at certain frequencies with plasmons (oscillations of electrons), which enhances optical absorption at the resonant frequency [33,34]. Dielectric NPs with high refractive index (Si, Ge) can also be utilized as effective heating agents under light irradiation due to their quadrupole resonances [35].…”

Plasmon-Enhanced Controlled Drug Release from Ag-PMA Capsules

“…Heating efficiency depends on the nature of plasmonic NPs' optical properties and arises from the resonant interaction of the electromagnetic field at certain frequencies with the oscillations of electrons (plasmons) [38]. These plasmons provide considerable enhancement to an electric field near the NPs' surface as well as an increase in optical absorption at the resonant frequency [39]. Among the adopted light sources, ultraviolet radiation has been commonly used to induce drug release in hyperbranched polyglycerol micelles [40,41].…”

Development of Silica-Based Biodegradable Submicrometric Carriers and Investigating Their Characteristics as in Vitro Delivery Vehicles

“…Nanostructured materials are widely applied in the field of drug and gene delivery [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. For an effective drug administration, an appropriate design of the material providing the delivery of various bioactive compounds to the site of interest, a sufficient release profile, an improved solubility of drugs, among others, is demanded [ 4 ].…”