International Research Journal of Education and Technology

The pharmaceutical and health care industry has been creating and using nano-scale materials for resolving many physical, biological and chemical problems related with the treatment of disease. The hydrophobic nature of most of the drugs presents a challenge for effective in vivo delivery. Shrinking materials to nano size has profoundly enhanced the efficacy of such drugs. An ideal drug therapy attains effective drug concentration at the target site for a specified period of time and minimizes general and local side effects. To obtain a desirable therapeutic response, the correct amount of drug should be transported and delivered to the site of action with subsequent control of drug input rate. Nanosponges are made of microscopic particles with few nanometers wide cavities, in which a large variety of substances can be encapsulated. These particles possess the ability to carry both lipophilic and hydrophilic substances and thereby improving the solubility of poorly water soluble molecules. The studies conducted in this field proves that the tiny mesh-like structures called nanosponges may revolutionise the treatment of many diseases and early trials suggest this technology is up to five times more effective at delivering drugs for breast cancer than conventional methods.

Key Words: Nanosponges, lipophilic, hydrophilic.