NANOCARRIERS FOR TARGETING IN INFLAMMATION

Unselective drug availability and therefore the use of potentially too high doses are a common problem encountered today. Example for this predicament is inflammatory diseases. Side effects caused by the systemic administration of the NSAIDS and other anti-inflammatory drugs necessitate   targeting of these drugs. Targeting has spatial and temporal properties which deliver the right amount of drug to the right place. Properties of inflamed barrier such as enhanced permeation and retention effect, over-expression of certain cell receptors are great targeting potentials. Tailoring with the peptide sequence of receptors facilitate active targeting. Local inflammation mediated  micro environmental change can also lead to the development of stimuli responsive carriers which helps in ‘smart’ delivery of active pharmaceutical moieties  Hence different nanocarriers like liposome, polymeric micelles, dendrimers and nanoparticles, discussed, can be targeted actively and passively for various inflammatory diseases. Key words : Nanocarriers, enhanced permeation and retention effect, passive targeting, active targeting, stimuli responsive carriers.