Abstract
The treatment of inner ear disorders always remains a challenge for researchers. The presence of various physiological barriers, primarily the blood–labyrinth barrier (BLB), limits the accessibility of the inner ear and hinders the efficacy of various drug therapies. Yet despite recent advances in the cochlea for repair and regeneration, there are currently no pharmacological or biological interventions for hearing loss. Current research focuses on the localized drug-, gene-, and cell-based therapies. Drug delivery based on nanotechnology represents an innovative strategy to improve inner ear treatments. Materials with specific nanostructures not only exhibit a unique ability to encapsulate and transport therapeutics to the inner ear but also endow specific targeting properties to auditory hair cells as well as the stabilization and sustained drug release. Along with this, some alternative routes, like intratympanic drug delivery, can also offer a better means to access the inner ear without exposure to the BLB. This review discusses a variety of nano-based drug delivery systems to the ear for treating inner ear diseases. The main factors affecting the curative efficacy of nanomaterials are also discussed. With a deeper understanding of the link between these crucial factors and the clinical effect of nanomaterials, it paves the way for the optimization of the therapeutic activity of nanocarriers.
Highlights
The most recent global report suggests that over 1.5 billion people were experiencing some degree of hearing loss in 2021
The NPs on the hydrophilic surface are distributed in the cochlea fastest (Cai et al, 2017), which may suggest that the hydrophilic-moleculemodified nano-based drug delivery system has a bright prospect for catering to clinical inner ear diseases
Nano-carriers such as polymersome, liposome, silica NP, and phospholipid NP can successfully carry a large drug through the round window membrane (RWM) into the inner ear as shown in an in vitro experiment, especially integrating with hydrogels to complement their respective shortcomings
Summary
Qianyu Lin 1,2†, Qiong Guo 1,2†, Mingchao Zhu 3, Juanli Zhang 4, Bei Chen 5, Tingting Wu 1,2, Wei Jiang 1,2* and Wenxue Tang 1,2*. The presence of various physiological barriers, primarily the blood–labyrinth barrier (BLB), limits the accessibility of the inner ear and hinders the efficacy of various drug therapies. Current research focuses on the localized drug-, gene-, and cell-based therapies. Drug delivery based on nanotechnology represents an innovative strategy to improve inner ear treatments. Materials with specific nanostructures exhibit a unique ability to encapsulate and transport therapeutics to the inner ear and endow specific targeting properties to auditory hair cells as well as the stabilization and sustained drug release. Some alternative routes, like intratympanic drug delivery, can offer a better means to access the inner ear without exposure to the BLB. This review discusses a variety of nanobased drug delivery systems to the ear for treating inner ear diseases.
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