Sol-gel carrier system: A novel controlled drug delivery

Abstract

In the recent decades, numerous drug delivery systems based on nanoparticles have been developed. To deliver drugs to a specific site, many vehicles have been designed, including liposomes, lipid and polymeric nanoparticles. However these systems can suffer some limitations such as thermal and physical instability as well as opsonization by reticuloendothelial system. This chapter addresses the development and application of silica gel nanoparticles (nanogels) for drug delivery. The synthesis of nanoparticles by sol-gel technology offers new possibilities and many advantages for embedding organic compounds within silica, controlling their release from the host matrix into a surrounding medium, being a great potential for a variety of drug delivery applications, such as the site-specific delivery and intracellular controlled release of drugs, genes, and other therapeutic agents.