Recent Advances in Bioresponsive Nanomaterials

Abstract

The development of effective nanodelivery systems capable of carrying a drug specifically and safely to a desired site of action can be considered as one of the most challenging tasks of pharmaceutical formulation. Stimuli-responsive materials, as called intelligent or smart, could be the key of the best developments in the area. Controlled Drug Delivery Systems (CDDSs) have almost three decades since they were first investigated. Their formulation, at the beginning, was almost exclusively based on biomaterials ((biomaterials or (bio)compatible polymers)) as carriers and targeting functionalities. Despite intense scientific work, focused in the field of delivery systems, the number of systems that have undergone clinical trials and then reached the market has been not as expected. Starting from early 1990 ordered mesoporous materials and hybrids were first synthesized and in 2000 they started to be used as part of CDDS, complementary inducing major improvements. The evolutions in the field from microtechnology toward nanotechnology caused tremendous improvements and developing of nanomedicine. Because of the huge literature of scientific papers on CDD systems, this chapter attempts to limit sensing material's examples to some CDDSs encompassing (meso) porous and magnetic silica based nanomaterials as drug vehicle, trying also to present their complex functionalities, as a part of an intelligent material concept. By studying this extremely huge and fascinating domain, we tried to hear "the voice" of inorganic materials, actually, a very tiny part of it. The studies were done in order to better understand the basics related to both drug and CDDSs interaction and behavior within biosystems in order to find the required essentials for inorganic components to fit and even improve such a complex systems.