Advances in polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms as tunable drug delivery systems

Mini-review

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Authors: Bingbing Jiang, John B Barnett, Bingyun Li

Published Date August 2009 Volume 2009:2 Pages 21 - 27

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NSA.S5705

Bingbing Jiang¹, John B Barnett^2,3, Bingyun Li^1,4,5#

¹Biomaterials, Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, ²Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology, ³Center for Immunopathology and Microbial Pathogenesis, School of Medicine, ⁵Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA; ⁴WVNano Initiative, Morgantown, WV, USA; ^#Aided by a grant from Osteosynthesis and Trauma Care (OTC) Foundation

Abstract: There has been considerable interest in polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms, which have a variety of applications ranging from optical and electrochemical materials to biomedical devices. Polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms are constructed from aqueous solutions using electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly of oppositely-charged polyelectrolytes on a solid substrate. Multifunctional polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms have been studied using charged dyes, metal and inorganic nanoparticles, DNA, proteins, and viruses. In the past few years, there has been increasing attention to developing polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms as drug delivery vehicles. In this mini-review, we present recent developments in polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms with tunable drug delivery properties, with particular emphasis on the strategies in tuning the loading and release of drugs in polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms as well as their applications.

Keywords: nanofilm, polyelectrolyte multilayer, drug delivery, electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly, biomedical device, surface modification

General overview: Over the past few years, there has been increasing interest in developing polyelectrolyte multilayer films that carry drugs for biomedical applications. Such films are likely in the nanometer scale; one nanometer is one billionth of a meter. This review presents the recent developments in polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms with tunable drug delivery properties, with particular emphasis on how to control drug incorporation and release. A variety of drugs including antibiotics, cytokines, and growth factors have been incorporated into polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilms, retained their bioactivity, and showed promise in treating diseases such as implant-associated infection. Future development is expected to be nanofilms that possess multifunctions including combined delivery of multiple therapeutic agents or combined delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. Such nanofilms could help to achieve ideal treatment outcomes, e.g. achieving infection prevention and wound healing simultaneously or combining treatment and diagnosis in a single device.

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