Smart Polymers for Drug Delivery System
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Macromolecular Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 3081
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biomaterials; solid heat capacity; liquid heat capacity; phase transitions of polymers, physical aging
Interests: polymers; polymeric nanocomposites, biopolymers, advanced thermal analysis; vibrational heat capacity; physical aging of polymers
Interests: biopolymers; biosynthesized polyesters; blends; nanocomposites; structure-properties relationship; biodegradaion; thermal stability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The pharmacy industry has been benefitting from advances in polymers. In this field, smart polymers are playing a significant role because they are ideal candidates for use in drug delivery systems. They are biocompatible, non-toxic, and have specific properties making them ideal for the human body, which is also a machine with a complex system and works in response to chemical signals. However, these weak responses, compounded hundreds or thousands of times, create a considerable force for driving biological processes. One example is a smart polymer that undergoes conformational change in response to pH change, which is relevant to drug delivery. Another one is a humidity-sensitive polymer used in self-adaptive wound dressings; it automatically regulates moisture balance in and around the wound. Moreover, there are also thermoresponsive polymers having a Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST) equal to human body temperature. Outside the LCST, the smart polymer is hydrophobic and interacts with the components of the cells while inside, it is hydrophilic and does not interact with them. Extensive research has been carried out on utilizing this property of thermoresponsive polymers for the delivery of drugs in stimuli responsive drug delivery systems. These properties of macromolecules have enabled thermosensitive polymers, which have been utilized in many drug delivery systems including for cancer therapeutics.
To sum up, smart polymers play the role of drug delivery technology that can control the release of therapeutic agents in periodic doses. Polymers are capable of molecular recognition and directing intracellular delivery and produce awareness systems
This Special Issue of Molecules, entitled "Smart polymers for drug delivery systems" is dedicated to all fields of smart polymers from synthesis, through the study of their properties, to the study of the smart polymers and drugs systems.
Prof. Dr. Marek Pyda
Prof. Dr. Iwona Zarzyka
Dr. Anna Czerniecka-Kubicka
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- smart polymers
- drug delivery systems
- thermal analysis
- synthesis
