Nanoparticulates with drug release based on temperature change.

Unlabelled: The stimuli-induced release systems are able to respond to an external stimulus resulting in drug release in a controlled pattern. The origin of the external stimuli may be of physical, chemical or biological nature. Thermo-responsive delivery systems respond to the change in temperature and they were mainly designed in order to be used in the cancer treatment method using elevated temperature, i.e. hyperthermia. The thermo-responsive systems can be divided into several groups, such as thermo-responsive hydrogel polymer systems, liposomes, nano- or microparticles, and polypeptide-drug conjugates. While liposomes are temperature-sensitive by their nature, the other systems are usually based on thermo-sensitive polymers, namely poly-(N-isopropyl-acrylamide). This article summarizes recently available items of information regarding thermo-responsive drug delivery.

Keywords: drug delivery system thermo-responsive system poly-(N-isopropyl-acrylamide) liposome nanoparticle polypeptide-drug conjugate.