Polymeric Micro/Nanocarriers and Motors for Cargo Transport and Phototriggered Delivery

Abstract

Smart polymer-based micro/nanoassemblies have emerged as a promising alternative for transporting and delivering a myriad of cargo. Cargo encapsulation into (or linked to) polymeric micro/nanocarrier (PC) strategies may help to conserve cargo activity and functionality when interacting with its surroundings in its journey to the target. PCs for cargo phototriggering allow for excellent spatiotemporal control via irradiation as an external stimulus, thus regulating the delivery kinetics of cargo and potentially increasing its therapeutic effect. Micromotors based on PCs offer an accelerated cargo–medium interaction for biomedical, environmental, and many other applications. This review collects the recent achievements in PC development based on nanomicelles, nanospheres, and nanopolymersomes, among others, with enhanced properties to increase cargo protection and cargo release efficiency triggered by ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, including light-stimulated polymeric micromotors for propulsion, cargo transport, biosensing, and photo-thermal therapy. We emphasize the challenges of positioning PCs as drug delivery systems, as well as the outstanding opportunities of light-stimulated polymeric micromotors for practical applications.

Light-Triggered Polymersome-Based Anticancer Therapeutics Delivery

“…Recent advances regarding the implementation of polymersomes correspond to the development of structures with motility, such as micro-nanomotors [ 307 , 308 ]. In our group, Mena-Giraldo and Orozco have recently developed a Janus UV-photosensitive polymeric chitosan micromotor (J-PCM), demonstrating the enzymatic protection against UV light using UV-absorbing molecules.…”

Review of Bubble Applications in Microrobotics: Propulsion, Manipulation, and Assembly

“…The speed of the catalytic reaction can be controlled by changing the concentration of H 2 O 2 to adjust the speed of the nanomotor. The moving direction can be controlled using a magnetic field or other methods [ 128 , 129 ], and drug-triggered delivery can be realized by combining it with a light field [ 130 , 131 ].…”

Photosensitive Polymeric Janus Micromotor for Enzymatic Activity Protection and Enhanced Substrate Degradation

“…49,50 Similarly, light-stimulated polymeric JMs are emerging approaches that use UV-light energy to generate propulsion, cargo transport, environmental control and remediation, biosensing, and cancer therapy, highlighting the importance of biophotonic on the micro/nanomotor field. 51 We report on a new Janus UV-photosensitive polymeric chitosan micromotor (J-PCM), assembled with soft-chemistry and bottom-up technologies to demonstrate for the first time enzymatic activity protection against UV light using UV-AMs and efficient degradation of substrates accelerated by selfpropelled catalytically and externally controlled magnetic field motion (Scheme 1). The novel photosensitive polymer was synthesized by covalently linking UV-photosensitive azobenzene molecules to chitosan.…”

“…Photosensitive molecules (PMs) absorb UV-light energy by the photoisomerization mechanism . Conjugating PMs to polymers is a straightforward manner to assemble UV-photosensitive polymeric micro/nanocarriers (PCs) with the ability to release the cargo by UV-light stimulus, taking advantage of the high UV-light absorption of PMs for the photoactivation process. , Similarly, light-stimulated polymeric JMs are emerging approaches that use UV-light energy to generate propulsion, cargo transport, environmental control and remediation, biosensing, and cancer therapy, highlighting the importance of biophotonic on the micro/nanomotor field …”