Novel Materials and Technologies for Controlled Drug Delivery Systems

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmaceutical Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2024 | Viewed by 551

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Interests: nanotechnology; lipid-based drug delivery systems; natural antioxidants; transdermal delivery systems; semisolid formulations
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The control of therapeutics represents a crucial point in modern pharmaceutics. Indeed, the smart delivery of drugs enables prolonged drug release to achieve specific targets and/or to overcome biological barriers. As a matter of fact, conventional pharmaceutical forms, such as solutions, suspensions, emulsions, tablets, and capsules, often lead to scarce drug bioavailability, while hindering the achievement of sustained release, resulting in an irregular plasma drug level. Moreover, to ensure maximum efficacy and safety, the drug should be delivered specifically at the target site. In this respect, recent research progress has led to the development of new controlled drug delivery systems, ranging from the macro to nano scale, including smart drug delivery systems suitable to obtain targeted delivery. This Special Issue aims to showcase recent findings about novel drug delivery systems designed for different administration routes, including transdermal and nasal ones. Notably, the use of innovative production methodologies, such as microfluidics and 3D printing, is particularly appreciated from the perspective of industrial scaling-up and applications.

Dr. Elisabetta Esposito
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • smart drug delivery systems
  • nanoparticles
  • 3D printing
  • microfluidics
  • transdermal delivery

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

24 pages, 3721 KiB  
Review
Characterization Methods for Nanoparticle–Skin Interactions: An Overview
by Valentyn Dzyhovskyi, Arianna Romani, Walter Pula, Agnese Bondi, Francesca Ferrara, Elisabetta Melloni, Arianna Gonelli, Elena Pozza, Rebecca Voltan, Maddalena Sguizzato, Paola Secchiero and Elisabetta Esposito
Life 2024, 14(5), 599; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14050599 - 8 May 2024
Viewed by 429
Abstract
Research progresses have led to the development of different kinds of nanoplatforms to deliver drugs through different biological membranes. Particularly, nanocarriers represent a precious means to treat skin pathologies, due to their capability to solubilize lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs, to control their release, [...] Read more.
Research progresses have led to the development of different kinds of nanoplatforms to deliver drugs through different biological membranes. Particularly, nanocarriers represent a precious means to treat skin pathologies, due to their capability to solubilize lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs, to control their release, and to promote their permeation through the stratum corneum barrier. A crucial point in the development of nano-delivery systems relies on their characterization, as well as in the assessment of their interaction with tissues, in order to predict their fate under in vivo administration. The size of nanoparticles, their shape, and the type of matrix can influence their biodistribution inside the skin strata and their cellular uptake. In this respect, an overview of some characterization methods employed to investigate nanoparticles intended for topical administration is presented here, namely dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the main fluorescence methods employed to detect the in vitro nanoparticles interaction with skin cell lines, such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting or confocal imaging, are described, considering different examples of applications. Finally, recent studies on the techniques employed to determine the nanoparticle presence in the skin by ex vivo and in vivo models are reported. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Materials and Technologies for Controlled Drug Delivery Systems)
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