Growth of Nanostructures for Drug Delivery Applications: A Review Article

Abstract

The integration of nanostructures and drug delivery, with the rapid growth of nanotechnology, has become a research hotspot in recent years. Due to their specific and superior properties, different nanostructures are able to significantly increase the solubility of poorly soluble drugs, decrease cytotoxicity to normal tissues, and enhance therapeutic efficacy, in particular those developed from self-assembly. In the delivery of diverse drugs, such as small molecules, peptides, proteins and nucleic acids, nanostructures have been successfully applied. The driving forces for the self-assembly of nanostructures are introduced in this article. The approaches of drug delivery by nanostructures are discussed briefly. In addition, a number of nanostructures developed from different building materials, primarily liposomes, polymers, ceramics, metals, peptides, nucleic acids, and even drugs themselves, are emphasized. Due to their special and superior properties compared to traditional bulk materials, nanostructures have attracted intensive research attention in the past few decades. In a broad range of areas, such as materials, electronics, sensing, catalysis, climate, and drug delivery, they have been applied.