Abstract
The growing demand for effective delivery of photosensitive active compounds has resulted in the development of colloid chemistry and nanotechnology. Recently, many kinds of novel formulations with outstanding pharmaceutical potential have been investigated with an expansion in the design of a wide variety of “soft” nanostructures such as simple or multiple (double) nanoemulsions and lipid formulations. The latter can then be distinguished into vesicular, including liposomes and “smart” vesicles such as transferosomes, niosomes and ethosomes, and non-vesicular nanosystems with solid lipid nanoparticles and nanostructured lipid carriers. Encapsulation of photosensitive agents such as drugs, dyes, photosensitizers or antioxidants can be specifically formulated by the self-assembly of phospholipids or other amphiphilic compounds. They are intended to match unique pharmaceutic and cosmetic requirements and to improve their delivery to the target site via the most common, i.e., transdermal, intravenous or oral administration routes. Numerous surface modifications and functionalization of the nanostructures allow increasing their effectiveness and, consequently, may contribute to the treatment of many diseases, primarily cancer. An increasing article number is evidencing significant advances in applications of the different classes of the photosensitive agents incorporated in the ”soft” colloidal nanocarriers that deserved to be highlighted in the present review.
Highlights
There has been growing interest by many scientific groups and numerous pharmaceutical companies in the design and synthesis of novel colloidal formulations with specific features, i.e., good biocompatibility, appropriate size and structure and high colloidal stability, as well as high loading capacity and the controlled release of active compounds [1,2,3]
Some key issues need to be improved for the successful application of the “soft” nanocarriers in clinical trials
Based on the extensive literature study, it is proved that both the composition and preparation methods of nanoemulsions, multiple formulations, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) and nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) are the key aspects of their final applications
Summary
There has been growing interest by many scientific groups and numerous pharmaceutical companies in the design and synthesis of novel colloidal formulations with specific features, i.e., good biocompatibility, appropriate size and structure and high colloidal stability, as well as high loading capacity and the controlled release of active compounds [1,2,3] Many of these active agents are photosensitive, e.g., promising drugs, dyes, photosensitizers and antioxidants. The high potential of these systems is evidenced by the constantly growing number of papers and patents, granted for their manufacture in the recent years [10,11,12,13] This is due to their improved biocompatibility, enhanced permeability and better entrapment/ encapsulation/loading efficiency, as well as scalability and cost effective manufacturing [14]. Zhong et al [28] presented the most commonly used routes of pharmaceuticals administration approved by FDA, as oral, intravenous and cutaneous
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