Stimuli-Responsive Drug Release from Smart Polymers

Abstract

Over the past 10 years, stimuli-responsive polymeric biomaterials have emerged as effective systems for the delivery of therapeutics. Persistent with ongoing efforts to minimize adverse effects, stimuli-responsive biomaterials are designed to release in response to either chemical, physical, or biological triggers. The stimuli-responsiveness of smart biomaterials may improve spatiotemporal specificity of release. The material design may be used to tailor smart polymers to release a drug when particular stimuli are present. Smart biomaterials may use internal or external stimuli as triggering mechanisms. Internal stimuli-responsive smart biomaterials include those that respond to specific enzymes or changes in microenvironment pH; external stimuli can consist of electromagnetic, light, or acoustic energy; with some smart biomaterials responding to multiple stimuli. This review looks at current and evolving stimuli-responsive polymeric biomaterials in their proposed applications.

Obtaining and Characterization of the PLA/Chitosan Foams with Antimicrobial Properties Achieved by the Emulsification Combined with the Dissolution of Chitosan by CO2 Saturation

“…These functions are often associated with the activation of growth of the bone tissue, cartilage, ligaments, skin, blood vessels, nerves, and muscles [1]. Spongy materials are also used as the carriers for the controlled drugs release [2]. Due to the origin of the raw material, spongy materials are divided into synthetic, natural, and ceramic materials and their combinations.…”

Functionalized Graphene Oxide for Chemotherapeutic Drug Delivery and Cancer Treatment: A Promising Material in Nanomedicine

“…Enhanced specific drug release could be achieved through stimuli-responsive NPs sensitive to changes in the tumor microenvironment and the tumor cell, e.g., hypoxia; low intracellular pH or increased concentration of enzyme proteases, peptidases, and glutathione; or physical stimuli such as temperature, acoustics, and light. In addition to passive and active targeting, the development of such stimuli-responsive “smart” nanoparticles may overcome barriers to tumor heterogeneity and provide enhanced and selective uptake and release of chemotherapeutics at the target tumor site [ 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 ].…”

Hybrid Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Grafted with 2-(tert-butylamino)ethyl Methacrylate-b-poly(ethylene Glycol) Methyl Ether Methacrylate Diblock Brushes as Drug Nanocarrier

“…Therefore, in order to design a nanosystem with the drug-release kinetics desired for the target applications, it is important to understand the drug-releasing mechanisms [14]. In the past few years, the concept of stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems (i.e., temperature-responsive, light-responsive, enzyme-responsive, or pH-responsive systems) has been developed for tailoring the release profiles [7,15].…”