Content area
Full text
Lígia N. M. Ribeiro [1] and Ana C. S. Alcântara [2] and Gustavo H. Rodrigues da Silva [1] and Michelle Franz-Montan [3] and Silvia V. G. Nista [4] and Simone R. Castro [1] and Verônica M. Couto [1] and Viviane A. Guilherme [1] and Eneida de Paula [1]
Academic Editor: Chaoqun Zhang
1, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Biology Institute, University of Campinas, 13083-862 Campinas, SP, Brazil, unicamp.br
2, Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Maranhão, 65080-805 São Luís, MA, Brazil, ufma.br
3, Department of Physiological Sciences, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, 13414-903 Piracicaba, SP, Brazil, unicamp.br
4, Department of Materials and Bioprocess Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas, 13083-852 Campinas, SP, Brazil, unicamp.br
Received Aug 7, 2017; Accepted Oct 4, 2017
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
1. Introduction
This work demonstrates the wide possibility of advanced materials developments in the drug delivery/release field based on a molecular approach. It draws a parallel line between the nanostructured drug delivery systems (DDS) or drug release systems studied in recent years and their hybridization processes from an assembly with polymeric materials able to bypass many of the intrinsic limitations to each system. These versatile polymer-based hybrid nanostructures combine the advantages of each excipient, resulting in formulations or pharmaceutical forms designed to specifically interact with the targets, acting as smart drug delivery systems. The current literature revision aims to show the mainly polymeric materials used as DDS, as well as those organic hybrid nanocarriers based on polymer molecules. We have also moved efforts to inspire novel hybrid DDS in the search of a perfect DDS design, which is still a challenge.
The pioneering use of biomaterials dates back to early civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt, since artificial ears, noses, and teeth were found in many mummified bodies [1]. In the last 50 years, much effort has been focused on understanding the interactions between biomaterials and targets, contributing to the creation of advanced products with different biomedical applications [1]. Polymeric blends as well as the combination of different types of biomaterials have been tried for the development of biosensors,...