Targetable drug carriers

Carbohydrates and Drug Carrier Targeting Perspectives Enhancement of Carbohydrate Therapeutic Activity by Association With Nanoparticle Delivery Systems... 

Polymeric microparticles have been studied and developed for several years. Their contribution in the pharmacy field is of utmost importance in order to improve the efficiency of oral delivery of drugs. As drug carriers, polymer-based microparticles may avoid the early degradation of active molecules in undesirable sites of the gastrointestinal tract, mask unpleasant taste of drugs, reduce doses and side effects and improve bioavailability. Also, they allow the production of site-specific drug targeting, which consists of a suitable approach for the delivery of active molecules into desired tissues or cells in order to increase their efficiency. 

MUller, R. H., Davis, S. S., Ilium, L., and Mak, E. (1986). Particle charge and surface hydrophobicity of colloidal drug carriers, in Targeting of Drugs with Synthetic Systems (G. Gregoriadis, J. Senior, and G. Poste, eds.), Plenum Press,... 

Probably the most promising polymeric drug carrier system involves polysaccharide molecules. These are natural polymers and are often biodegradable to products that are useful to the host or easily eliminated by the host. Dextrans have been the most extensively used polysaccharide for macromolecular prodrug preparations (79). These materials are biocompatible and the in vivo fate is directly related to their molecular weight. Moreover these macromolecules can be easily targetted to the hepatocytes with D-mannose or L-fucose (20). 

A. J. Baillie, Niosomes A putative drug carrier system, in Targeting of Drugs. Anatomical and Physiological Considerations (G. Gregoriadis and G. Poste, eds.), NATO Series. Series A. Life Science, Vol. 155, Plenum Press, New York, 1988, p. 143. 

J. B. Lloyd, Soluble polymers as targetable drug carriers, in Drug Delivery Systems. Fundamental and Techniques (P. Johnson and J. G. Llyod, eds.), Ellis Horwood and VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, Chichester and Weinheim, 1987, p. 95. 

J. M. Varga and N. Asato, Hormones as drug carriers, in Targeted Drugs (E. P. Goldberg, ed.), John Wiley Sons, New York, 1983, p. 73. 

In the previous chapters it has been shown that stable cell membrane models can be realized via polymerization of appropriate lipids in planar monolayers at the gas-water interface as well as in spherical vesicles. Moreover, initial experiments demonstrate that polymeric liposomes carrying sugar moieties on their surface can be recognized by lectins, which is a first approach for a successful targeting of stabilized vesicles being one of the preconditions of their use as specific drug carriers in vivo. 

Weissig V. Mitochondrial-targeted drug and DNA delivery. Crit Rev Ther Drug Carrier Syst 2003 20(1) 1-62. 

---