Renewable biomaterials as nanocarriers for drug and gene delivery

Abstract

Recently, due to strong emphasis on environmental awareness worldwide, utilization of renewable feedstocks has been growing in the development of materials for various applications. Amphiphilic polymeric materials have been widely used as drug and gene delivery carriers. These materials can self-assemble into different nanostructures, such as micelles, nanospheres, hydrogels, nanocapsules and polymersomes, which can serve as reservoirs for various therapeutic agents. Among numerous materials that can be used to fabricate these systems, those from renewable resources are of particular interest, due to the increasing environmental concerns as well as their natural abundance and favorable properties including biocompatibility, biodegradability and non-toxicity. In this chapter, naturally occurring materials such as polysaccharides, vegetable oils, terpenes and proteins, and their applications as nano delivery systems are reviewed.