Nanostructured Devices Based on Block Copolymer Assemblies for Drug Delivery: Designing Structures for Enhanced Drug Function

Abstract

Block copolymers spontaneously assemble into nanoscaled polymeric micelles, which have significant potential as drug carriers. Following much work in related fields over the last decade, a drug carrier based on polymeric micelles has been created. Advances in polymer chemistry have significantly contributed to progress in polymeric micelle-based drug carrier research, because the micelle parameters that are most important to successful drug delivery can be modulated by engineering the structures of the micelle-forming block copolymers. More intelligent polymeric micelles enabling environmentally-sensitive drug release and cell type-specific targeting have also recently emerged and have attracted increasing interest in the field of polymer chemistry. This paper therefore reviews recent progress in research on polymeric micelles for drug delivery, focusing upon the relationship between the chemical design of polymeric micelles and their physicochemical and biological properties.