A Study on Smart Polymer Materials and Their Role in Stimuli-Driven Controlled Drug Release Systems
TL;DR
The study highlights the promising applications of smart polymers in precision medicine, allowing for targeted therapeutic interventions that are more effective and less harmful to the body.
Abstract
Smart polymers, a novel paradigm shift in the pharmaceutical science, are intelligent biomaterials that are designed to react dynamically to external and internal stimuli (e.g., pH, temperature, redox potential, light, and enzyme activities) that allow precise spatiotemporal drug delivery. This thorough study delves into the structure, response mechanisms and pharmaceutical uses of stimuli-responsive polymers for controlled drug delivery. We explore the various facets of smart polymers through the analysis of recent studies, which include pH responsive alginate derivatives with a 43.3% drug release at acidic tumour pH, temperature responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) with tunable LCSTs around the physiological temperature, redox responsive systems with 98.2% cumulative release in reductive environment, and light responsive nanoparticles in which drug release is controlled by light. We investigated both dual and multi-responsive systems, synthesis techniques, in vitro/in vivo efficacy evaluation, and characterization techniques. Results have shown that pH-responsive hydrogels can successfully close wounds in 15 days with closure rate of 90.5%, redox-sensitive polymersomes can be used to successfully encapsulate doxorubicin with high efficiency of 98%, and enzyme-responsive formulations can be used to trigger de-PEGylation mechanisms for effective cellular uptake at high efficiency with pH increase rate in degradation of 2.05-fold per 10°C. The targeting ligands, surface functionalization, and multi-stimuli responsive properties greatly contribute to the improvement of therapeutic specificity and the reduction of off-target toxicity. The study highlights the promising applications of smart polymers in precision medicine, allowing for targeted therapeutic interventions that are more effective and less harmful to the body. Keywords: stimuli-responsive polymers, pH-responsive systems, redox-triggered delivery, thermosensitive hydrogels, light-responsive nanoparticles, targeted drug delivery.