Abstract

NANOGELS: AN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY OF TARGET DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: OVERVIEW

Shruti Jaswal*

ABSTRACT

Nanogels are the advanced technology in pharmaceutical sciences which has been most popular in effective drug delivery inside the body as well as topical treatment. Nanogels may be defined as nano-sized hydrogel systems which are highly cross linked systems in nature involving polymer systems which are either co-polymerized or monomers. Nanogel based materials have high biocompatibility, biodegradability, good permeation capabilities, tissue mimicking properties and drug loading capacity as compared to other drug delivery system. They have capability of higher water retention which makes them ideal for incorporation of bulky drugs such as: proteins, peptides, oligonucleotides and other macromolecules. They are polymer-based networks, chemically or physically cross-linked, with at least 80-90% water in their composition. Nanogels have shown potential in many fields including chemotherapy, diagnosis, organ targeting, gene delivery and many others. The main areas of the target for the nanogels have been tumors of brain, liver, skin etc. Nanogel-based drug delivery provides controlled release of drug at the target site, increased the bioavailability of the drug. The formulations improve the effectiveness and safety of certain composition, which have been confirmed from in vivo study in animal models. Other uses of the nanogel are in diabetes, inflammation, wound healing, local anesthesia etc. The main goal of this research should be improved design of nanogels with specific targeting residue to enable highly selective uptake into particular cells. This reviews aims at providing general introduction on nanogels applications and recent trends in nanogels.

Keywords: Drug delivery, Polymer, Nanogel, Target.