Alginate Based Micelle in Biomedical Applications

Abstract

AbstractPolymer micelles have widespread applications in the biomedical field including drug and gene delivery and diagnostic imaging. Their specific properties such as biocompatibility, high stability, high accumulation efficiency due to enhanced permeability and retention effect, and the capability to solubilize hydrophobic drugs make them suitable for a variety of applications. Polymer micelles can be engineered by surface modifications to make them appropriate for specific applications. For example, incorporating targeting agents on the surface of the micelle enhances site-specific gene or drug delivery. Multifunctional micelles can be made by designing their polymer structure either by attaching stimuli-sensitive functional groups, targeting agents, or incorporating imaging agents into the micellar structure. Both biopolymers and synthetic polymer-based micelles have been developed and utilized for drug delivery. Biopolymer-based delivery systems provide better biocompatibility, and biodegradability than synthetic ones. In this chapter, biopolymer-alginate-based micelles, their formation, properties, and various applications have been explained in detail. Alginate is a hydrophilic polymer obtained from brown algae and has been extensively used for making nanocarriers for various biomedical applications including tissue engineering, drug delivery, wound dressings, targeted cancer therapy, and diagnostic imaging. We have summarized the micelle formation mechanism, properties of the micelles, structural modifications of alginate required for the micelle formation, and the method of the delivery mechanism. In addition, the recent progress of multifunctional alginate micelle for cancer therapy and imaging applications is also outlined.KeywordsAlginateMicelleSelf-assemblyStimuli-responsive