Nanocarriers for transdermal drug delivery

Abstract

Transdermal drug delivery offers an attractive alternative to the conventional drug-delivery methods of oral administration and injection. Apart from the convenience and noninvasiveness, the skin also provides a "reservoir" that sustains delivery over a period of days. It offers multiple sites to avoid local irritation and toxicity, yet it can also offer the option of concentrating drugs at local areas to avoid undesirable systemic effects. However, at present, the clinical use of transdermal delivery is limited by the fact that very few drugs can be delivered transdermally at a viable rate. This difficulty is because the stratum corneum of skin acts as an efficient barrier that limits penetration of drugs through the skin, and few noninvasive methods are known to significantly enhance the penetration of this barrier. In order to increase the range of drugs available for transdermal delivery, the use of nanocarriers has emerged as an interesting and valuable alternative for delivering lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs throughout the stratum corneum with the possibility of having a local or systemic effect for the treatment of many different diseases. These nanocarriers (nanoparticles, ethosomes, dendrimers, liposomes, etc) can be made of a lot of different materials, and they are very different in structure and chemical nature. They are too small to be detected by the immune system, and furthermore they can deliver the drug in the target organ using lower drug doses in order to reduce side effects.

Engineering of New UV-Blocking Hollow Proteinoid Nanoparticles of Narrow Size Distribution Containing All-trans Retinoic Acid for Biomedical Applications

“…It is well-known that such nanometric size particles are able to penetrate the skin [15,16]. Skin penetration is an important advantage of nano-scaled particles, since the drug (at-RA) would be able to effect deeper layers of the skin, resulting in a better therapeutic effect on the skin.…”

“…Encapsulation of at-RA in suitable delivery systems such as biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) can provide protection against UV-light, allowing increased amount of at-RA to reach the skin. Furthermore, different types of NPs are known to be skin permeable, due to their small size and spherical shape, while not detected by the immune system [15,16]. Therefore, NPs can be used as appropriate drug carriers to treat different skin conditions.…”

A Quality by design (QbD) approach on starch-based nanocapsules: A promising platform for topical drug delivery

“…way, the use of well-known polysaccharides as drug vehicles has additional benefits regarding safety and toxicity as well as availability [11]. Polymeric nanoparticles are an excellent option for topical delivery because they can be tailor-made in different sizes allowing surface modification in order to improve skin penetration [10,12]. Moreover, nanoparticle carriers made of bioadhesive materials, such as starch, can prolong the residence time by increasing the permeation of loaded drugs [11].…”

Functionalized Textile Based Therapy for the Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis

“…The development of hydrogel/vesicular systems was intended to achieve increased skin penetration of drugs [178]. Vesicular systems are nanocarriers such as liposomes, niosomes, and transfersomes and exhibit excellent transdermal penetration properties [178,179].…”

“…The development of hydrogel/vesicular systems was intended to achieve increased skin penetration of drugs [178]. Vesicular systems are nanocarriers such as liposomes, niosomes, and transfersomes and exhibit excellent transdermal penetration properties [178,179]. Likewise, the resulting drug delivery systems can be endowed with the properties of both hydrogel and the nanocarriers and have been applied in transdermal therapy [161].…”