The role of mucus as an invisible cloak to transepithelial drug delivery by nanoparticles

María García-Díaz, Ditlev Birch, Feng Wan, Hanne Mørck Nielsen

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

88 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Mucosal administration of drugs and drug delivery systems has gained increasing interest. However, nanoparticles intended to protect and deliver drugs to epithelial surfaces require transport through the surface-lining mucus. Translation from bench to bedside is particularly challenging for mucosal administration since a variety of parameters will influence the specific barrier properties of the mucus including the luminal fluids, the microbiota, the mucus composition and clearance rate, and the condition of the underlying epithelia. Besides, after administration, nanoparticles interact with the mucosal components, forming a biomolecular corona that modulates their behavior and fate after mucosal administration. These interactions are greatly influenced by the nanoparticle properties and therefore different designs and surface-engineering strategies have been proposed. Overall, it is essential to evaluate these biomolecule-nanoparticle interactions by complementary techniques using complex and relevant mucus barrier matrices.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAdvanced Drug Delivery Reviews
Volume124
Pages (from-to)107-124
ISSN0169-409X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • Journal Article

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