Dendrimers are drug delivery systems that are characterized by a three-dimensional, star-shaped, branched macromolecular network. They possess ideal properties such as low polydispersity index, biocompatibility and good water solubility. They are made up of the interior and the exterior layers. The exterior layer consists of functional groups that are useful for conjugation of drugs and targeting moieties. The interior layer exhibits improved drug encapsulation efficiency, reduced drug toxicity, and controlled release mechanisms. These unique properties make them useful for drug delivery. Dendrimers have attracted considerable attention as drug delivery system for the treatment of infectious diseases. The treatment of infectious diseases is hampered severely by drug resistance. Several properties of dendrimers such as their ability to overcome drug resistance, toxicity and control the release mechanism of the encapsulated drugs make them ideal systems for the treatment of infectious disease. The aim of this review is to discuss the potentials of dendrimers for the treatment of viral and parasitic infections.
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a protozoan parasite which is transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes around tropical and sub-tropical regions. Half of the world’s population is at risk of being infected by malaria. This mainly includes children, pregnant women and people living with chronic diseases. The main factor that has contributed to the spread of this disease is the increase in the number of drug-resistant parasites. To overcome drug resistance, researchers have developed drug delivery systems from biodegradable polymers for the loading of antimalarials. The drug delivery systems were characterized by distinct features such as good biocompatibility, high percentage drug encapsulation, reduced drug toxicity and targeted drug delivery. In this review article, we highlight the various types of drug delivery systems developed from polymeric nanocarriers used for the delivery of antimalarials.
The currently used antimalarials suffer from drug resistance which is hampering the global management of malaria infection. To overcome drug resistance, they are administered as combination therapies which involve combination of two or more antimalarials. In this study, chloroquine diphosphate and curcumin were encapsulated onto prepared soy protein isolate-carbopol-polyacrylamide based hydrogels. The hydrogels were pH sensitive and exhibited enhanced swelling capability at pH 7.4. The hydrogels were biodegradable which was observed by their SEM images after drug release. The release mechanisms of both drugs were influenced by the degree of crosslinking of the soy protein isolate in the hydrogel network and the presence of the other drug in the network. The release mechanisms of both drugs from the hydrogel networks followed super case transport II. These results suggested that the hydrogels were potential dual drug delivery systems for antimalarials whereby both drugs could work over different period of time and hence, have the potential to overcome drug resistance that is common with the presently used antimalarials. V C 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43918.
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