Micelles and nanoparticles for ultrasonic drug and gene delivery

Abstract

Drug delivery research employing micelles and nanoparticles has expanded in recent years. Of particular interest is the use of these nanovehicles that deliver high concentrations of cytotoxic drugs to diseased tissues selectively, thus reducing the agent's side effects on the rest of the body. Ultrasound, traditionally used in diagnostic medicine, is finding a place in drug delivery in connection with these nanoparticles. In addition to their non-invasive nature and the fact that they can be focused on targeted tissues, acoustic waves have been credited with releasing pharmacological agents from nanocarriers, as well as rendering cell membranes more permeable. In this article, we summarize new technologies that combine the use of nanoparticles with acoustic power both in drug and gene delivery. Ultrasonic drug delivery from micelles usually employs polyether block copolymers and has been found effective in vivo for treating tumors. Ultrasound releases drug from micelles, most probably via shear stress and shock waves from the collapse of cavitation bubbles. Liquid emulsions and solid nanoparticles are used with ultrasound to deliver genes in vitro and in vivo. The small packaging allows nanoparticles to extravasate into tumor tissues. Ultrasonic drug and gene delivery from nanocarriers has tremendous potential because of the wide variety of drugs and genes that could be delivered to targeted tissues by fairly non-invasive means.

Enhancement of the pasting properties of teff and maize starches through wet–heat processing with added stearic acid

“…This indicates that the starch with stearic acid pastes were more shear thinning than starch pastes alone. Stearic acid is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry as a lubricating agent in tablets (Husseini and Pitt, 2008). Thus, stearic acidstarch paste may have allowed the starch molecules to align more easily in the direction of shear and caused the paste to shear thin more.…”

Self-assembled micelles based on pH-sensitive PAE-g-MPEG-cholesterol block copolymer for anticancer drug delivery

“…[1][2][3][4] However, there are still some obstacles, such as stability, solubility of the drug, sensitivity, and toxicity. 5,6 Recently, pH-response polymers, including the protonable group, such as polymeric micelles, [7][8][9][10][11] nanoparticles, [12][13][14][15][16] liquid emulsion, 17 and liposomes, 5,[18][19][20] have been investigated to enhance antitumor efficiency with reduced side effects. Among these vectors, polymeric micelles have a core/shell architecture.…”

Pentablock copolymers of pluronic F127 and modified poly(2-dimethyl amino)ethyl methacrylate for internalization mechanism and gene transfection studies

“…[13][14][15] In addition, the incorporation of multiple functionalities into the PDMAEMA copolymers have been extensively developed for gene delivery systems. 16 Pluronic copolymers consist of hydrophobic poly(propylene) (PPO) segments and hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) segments. They can self-assemble into micelles with a hydrophobic core by PPO and a hydrophilic shell by PEO.…”