China 
Africa 
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Application of Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery
Published in Khalid Rehman Hakeem, Majid Kamli, Jamal S. M. Sabir, Hesham F. Alharby, Diverse Applications of Nanotechnology in the Biological Sciences, 2022
Muzafar Ahmad Rather, Showkeen Muzamil Bashir, Showkat Ul Nabi, Salahi Uddin Ahmad, Jiyu Zhang, Minakshi Prasad
Polymersomes are colloidal spherical hollow structures formed by the self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules with an aqueous core surrounded by a polymeric bilayer membrane. These nanostructures are potential candidates for next-generation drug-delivery systems. Polymersomes are synthetic mimics of nature and synthetic analogs to liposomes found in all living cells. Polymersomes can carry hydrophilic drug molecules within the aqueous core of hydrophobic drug molecules within the membrane bilayer or a combination of both and thus providing better treatment effects than a single drug when used alone (Thambi et al., 2012). Polymersomes are rigid, low membrane permeability (Discher et al., 1999), and with least or no immunogenicity (Anajafi and Mallik, 2015). Polymersomes vesicles can be functionalized with specific ligands for specific cell receptors for targeted drug delivery through surface. Stimuli-responsive chemistry can be used to achieve the sustained drug release from polymersome. Owing to these benefits, polymersomes have been used in various medical applications such as drug delivery (Anajafi and Mallik, 2015; Hu et al., 2017), gene and protein delivery (Onaca et al., 2009), imaging (Tanner et al., 2011), and diagnostics (Brinkhuis et al., 2011).
Nanodiamonds and Other Organic Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Surface Modifications
Published in Vineet Kumar, Praveen Guleria, Nandita Dasgupta, Shivendu Ranjan, Functionalized Nanomaterials I, 2020
Navneet Kaur, Chander Prakash, Aman Bhalla, Ganga Ram Chaudhary
Owing to their structural features, similar to those of liposomes, polymerosomes show effective drug-carrying capacities and stability towards unwanted stimuli as compared to polymer micelles (Catalin Balaure and Mihai Grumezescu, 2014). The polymerosomes constituted by block copolymers such as poly(ethylene oxide)-b-polycaprolactone and polyethyleneoxide-polyethylethylene have been reported to carry toxic chemotherapeutic drugs such as doxorubicin with tuned pharmacokinetics (Ghoroghchian et al., 2006). Apart from therapeutic drugs, polymersome loading with photoresponsive molecules or materials makes them viable as cellular labels and tracking agents in the field of diagnostics. Also, these vesicular structures are used for environment remediation by selective trapping of toxic metal ions from aqueous solutions into the cores of polymerosomes (Kapakoglou et al., 2008).
Magnetic Polymersomes for MRI and Theranostic Applications
Published in Nguyễn T. K. Thanh, Clinical Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles, 2018
Adeline Hannecart, Dimitri Stanicki, Luce Vander Elst, Robert N. Muller, Sophie Laurent
Polymersomes are formed from the self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers containing a large hydrophobic part.1 Amphiphilic polymers undergo self-assembly in aqueous solution driven by the hydrophobic effect in order to minimize energetically unfavourable hydrophobic–water interactions. Depending on the ratio between the hydrophobic and the hydrophilic parts of the polymer, diverse morphologies have been found to form spontaneously. The most common morphologies include spherical micelles, rods and vesicles (Figure 7.1).6 Spherical micelles are composed of a hydrophobic spherical core surrounded by hydrophilic chains, while rods (cylindrical or worm-like micelles) consist of a hydrophobic cylindrical core with a hydrophilic corona surrounding the core. On the other hand, polymersomes are hollow spheres with a hydrophobic bilayer membrane that differs from micelles possessing a solid hydrophobic core, encapsulating only hydrophobic moieties. In contrast, polymersomes can encapsulate both hydrophilic (in their inner aqueous cavity) and hydrophobic (in their hydrophobic membrane) species.1
Compartmentalization of therapeutic proteins into semi-crystalline PEG-PCL polymersomes
Published in Soft Materials, 2021
Juliana de Almeida Pachioni-Vasconcelos, Alexsandra Conceição Apolinário, André Moreni Lopes, Adalberto Pessoa, Leandro Ramos Souza Barbosa, Carlota de Oliveira Rangel-Yagui
ASNase nanoencapsulation has been reported to overcome these pitfalls.[6] Nonetheless, this strategy is challenging since proteins are sensitive molecules that might suffer denaturation under conditions usually used to prepare nanostructures, such as extreme pH and temperatures, as well as in the presence of solvents.[3] In this sense, self-assembled polymeric vesicles, namely polymersomes, have been investigated due to their mild preparation conditions, biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, extended half-life and targeting ability.[7] Polymersomes are biomimetic analogs of natural phospholipid vesicles based on amphiphilic block copolymers; therefore they enable encapsulation of hydrophilic drugs in an aqueous core and hydrophobic drugs in the bilayer. Owing to the higher molecular weight of the copolymers in comparison to phospholipids, polymersomes present higher mechanical and chemical stability.[8–10]