Preface

Chapter 9 **Mannan as a Promising Bioactive Material for Drug**

Songul Yasar Yildiz and Ebru Toksoy Oner

Fadwa Odeh, Hala Al-Jaber and Dima Khater

Chapter 10 **Nanoflora — How Nanotechnology Enhanced the Use of Active**

Chapter 11 **Electroporation – Advantages and Drawbacks for Delivery of**

Azam Bolhassani, Afshin Khavari and Zahra Orafa

Chapter 13 **Organic Nanotubes: Promising Vehicles for Drug Delivery 447**

Chapter 14 **Pharmacokinetic Properties and Safety of Cadmium-Containing Quantum Dots as Drug Delivery Systems 469**

Chapter 15 **Anticipating Market Introduction of Nanotechnology-Enabled**

Chapter 16 **Current Status and Future Scope for Nanomaterials in Drug**

Bhowmik, Pranab Jyoti Das and Paramita Paul

Utpal Bhadra, Manika Pal Bhadra, Jagannadh Bulusu and J.S. Yadav

Lourdes Rodriguez-Fragoso, Ivonne Gutiérrez-Sancha, Patricia Rodríguez-Fragoso, Anahí Rodríguez-López and Jorge Reyes-

Biswajit Mukherjee, Niladri Shekhar Dey, Ruma Maji, Priyanka

Chapter 12 **Prodrugs for Masking the Bitter Taste of Drugs 399**

**Nanocarrier Systems 311**

**Drug, Gene and Vaccine 369**

**Drug Delivery Systems 501**

**Phytochemicals 343**

**VI** Contents

Rafik Karaman

Esparza

Haico Te Kulve

**Delivery 525**

Nanotechnology can simply be defined as the technology at the scale of nanosize. It is the design, characterization, synthesis and application of materials, structures, devices and sys‐ tems by controlling shape and size at nanometer scale. Nanotechnology, being an interdisci‐ plinary field, has three main extensively overlapping areas: nanobiotechnology nanomaterials and nanoelectronics, which find applications in materials, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, biomimetics, environment, energy, electronics, metrology, security, robotics information technology, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, transport, and food proc‐ essing and storage. Nanotechnology in drug delivery has been manifested into nanoparti‐ cles that can have unique properties both and *in vivo* . Nanotechnology is a technique or process of administering a pharmaceutical compound to achieve a therapeutic effect in hu‐ mans or animals. These technologies modify drug release profile, absorption, distribution and elimination for the benefit of improving product efficacy and safety, as well as patient convenience and compliance.

Since it was first reported in 1980, site-specific drug delivery nanocarriers have progressed greatly with the development of nanotechnology and biotechnology, especially in the antitumor field. Currently, some of the ligand peptides like RGD have become hot targeting molecules with extensive academic studies and some receptor-medicated nanocarriers are now in clinical trials. On the other hand, new approaches are needed to reduce or to avoid off target toxicities, associated with chemotherapy and their long-term residual effects. Re‐ cently, nanotechnology has been employed to enhance cancer therapy, via improving the bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of anti-cancer agents.

It is critical for the field of drug delivery from a proof of concept to a pharmaceutical prod‐ uct at the beginning of the new millennium. A successful outcome will result in a new clini‐ cal modality that represents a revolutionary approach to medicine. One immediate benefit will be to produce a continuous level of therapeutic protein, avoiding the characteristic peak and through behavior of intermittent administrations with drug carrier systems. Novel drug delivery carriers using nanotechnology will have the capability to turn genes on or off on demand, producing a therapy that can treat the disease rather than the symptoms and with minimal side effects.

The aim of this book was to gather all results coming from very fundamental studies. Again, this will allow to gain a more general view of the various drug carrier systems that can pre‐ pare using nanotechnology and apply, along with the methodologies necessary to design, develop and characterize them. The reader will be introduced to various aspects of the fun‐ damentals of nanotechnology based drug delivery systems and the application of these sys‐

#### XII Preface

tems for the delivery of small molecules, proteins, peptides, oligonucleotides and genes. How these systems overcome challenges offered by biological barriers to drug absorption and drug targeting will also be described.

> **Ali Demir Sezer** Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Marmara University, Haydarpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey

**Chapter 1**

**Liposomes as Potential Drug Carrier Systems for Drug**

Lipids are amphiphilic molecules, where one part of the molecule is water-loving (hydrophilic) and the other water-hating (hydrophobic). When lipids are placed in contact with water, the unfavorable interactions of the hydrophobic segments of the molecule with the solvent result in the self assembly of lipids, often in the form of liposomes. Liposomes consist of an aqueous core surrounded by a lipid bilayer, much like a membrane, separating the inner aqueous core from the bulk outside. They were first discovered by Bangham and his co-workers in 1961 [1] and described as swollen phospholipid systems [2]. In the following years, a variety of enclosed phospholipid bilayer structures were defined which were initially called bangosomes and then liposomes, which was derived by the combination of two Greek words, "lipos" meaning fat

Liposomes have been used to improve the therapeutic index of new or established drugs by modifying drug absorption, reducing metabolism, prolonging biological half-life or reducing toxicity. Drug distribution is then controlled primarily by properties of the carrier and no

Lipids forming liposomes may be natural or synthetic, and liposome constituents are not exclusive of lipids, new generation liposomes can also be formed from polymers (sometimes referred to as polymersomes). Whether composed of natural or synthetic lipids or polymers, liposomes are biocompatible and biodegradable which make them suitable for biomedical research. The unique feature of liposomes is their ability to compartmentalize and solubilize both hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials by nature. This unique feature, coupled with biocompatibility and biodegradability make liposomes very attractive as drug delivery

> © 2014 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

longer by physico-chemical characteristics of the drug substance only.

Melis Çağdaş, Ali Demir Sezer and Seyda Bucak

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/58459

**1. Introduction**

and "soma" meaning body.

vehicles.

**Delivery**
