Amphiphilic Micelles as Superior Nanocarriers in Drug Delivery: from Current Preclinical Surveys to Structural Frameworks

Abstract

The designing of suitable carriers for the delivery of hydrophobic drugs is highly challenging for researchers. Solubilization of drugs is of immense importance for drug development since most drugs are water insoluble. Among various techniques employed for drug solubilization, the use of micellar solutions has been most common and prevalent for the solubilization of hydrophobic drugs now a days. The application of miceller systems for drug carriers shows some significance than that of other alternatives. Micelles can reside for longer time to afford gradual accumulation in the affected area in the body and more importantly their sizes allow them to accrue in the regions with leaky vasculature. Moreover, micelles can be obtained in a simple and reproducible way and their use for drug delivery has avoided many potential risks associated with other injectable formulations. These molecular self-assembled nanostructures solubilize the drugs and protect them from undesirable external environments. Hence it is necessary to have appropriate knowledge on the self-assembly phenomena associated with surfactant drug mixtures before proceeding for drug delivery. This review highlights details about important phenomenon associated with micellar systems and their role in drug delivery.