Review on metal nanoparticles as nanocarriers: current challenges and perspectives in drug delivery systems

Abstract

Over the past few years, nanotechnology has been attracting considerable research attention because of their outstanding mechanical, electromagnetic and optical properties. Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary field comprising nanomaterials, nanoelectronics, and nanobiotechnology, as three areas which extensively overlap. The application of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) has drawn much attention offering significant advances, especially in the field of medicine by increasing the therapeutic index of drugs through site specificity preventing multidrug resistance and delivering therapeutic agents efficiently. Apart from drug delivery, some other applications of MNPs in medicine are also well known such as in vivo and in vitro diagnostics and production of enhanced biocompatible materials and nutraceuticals. The use of metallic nanoparticles for drug delivery systems has significant advantages, such as increased stability and half-life of drug carrier in circulation, required biodistribution, and passive or active targeting into the required target site. Green synthesis of MNPs is an emerging area in the field of bionanotechnology and provides economic and environmental benefits as an alternative to chemical and physical methods. Therefore, this review aims to provide up-to-date insights on the current challenges and perspectives of MNPs in drug delivery systems. The present review was mainly focused on the greener methods of metallic nanocarrier preparations and its surface modifications, applications of different MNPs like silver, gold, platinum, palladium, copper, zinc oxide, metal sulfide and nanometal organic frameworks in drug delivery systems.

Metal-based nano-delivery platform for treating bone disease and regeneration

“…Several reports have mentioned the agglomeration of MNPs, which limits MNPs functionality in the nano-scale, as well as their dispersibility and stability. A few scholars believe that electrostatic interactions, which is size-dependent, cause this agglomeration ( Chandrakala et al, 2022 ). Agglomeration in vivo hinders the dispersibility of MNPs, which challenges the targeting efficacy and biosecurity of MNPs.…”

Temozolomide Efficacy and Metabolism: The Implicit Relevance of Nanoscale Delivery Systems

“…According to another research study, metal nanoparticles have the necessary properties to perform the role of transporters of therapeutic agents [ 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 ]. Liang et al developed a complex of silver and temozolomide nanoparticles (AgNPs-TMZ).…”

Silver Nanoparticle-Based Therapy: Can It Be Useful to Combat Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria?

“…NPs are applied, mainly as drug delivery systems, in different therapeutic areas, such as CNS diseases [ 18 ], cardiovascular diseases [ 19 ], ocular pathologies [ 20 ], Alzheimer’s disease [ 21 ], diabetes treatment [ 22 ], or immunotherapies [ 23 ]. However, oncology is the main area of NP applications [ 8 , 24 , 25 ], and the second area corresponds to infectious diseases [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. An advantage of NP formulations vs conventional systems is their multivalency, such that the presence of various functional groups from a NP permits a higher cell recognition and a higher target binding ability than those of linear polymers [ 12 ].…”