Nanocarriers for melatonin delivery

Abstract

More attention has been drawn to the drug delivery systems to achieve more precise and efficient treatment for patients with less doses of medicines. The use of nanoparticles for drug delivery system has emerged for this purpose. It can enhance the treatment efficiency by use of the drugs more selectively and precisely to deliver them to the targeted organs or tissues. Drug delivery systems can also help to reduce the side effects, especially for the chemotherapeutic agents that have severe toxicity. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytriptamine) is a small indolamine molecule that is produced by most cells and can influence on circadian manner. Melatonin also has antiapoptotic and antioxidant actions depending on the microenvironment; these actions are enhanced when it is incorporated into nanocarriers. Although the therapeutic effects of melatonin are promising, to achieve its optimal results is required. Therefore, the use of nanocarriers of melatonin is of clinical interest. Different melatonin loaded nanocarriers such as lipid-based nanocarriers, hybrid nanocarriers, synthetic ones, etc. can be used to deliver melatonin more efficiently for prevention or treatment of various diseases. In this review, we summarize the treatment efficiency of melatonin when it is incorporated into different nanocarriers.