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Strategies to improve micelle stability for drug delivery

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Abstract

Micelles have been studied as drug delivery carriers for decades. Their use can potentially result in high drug accumulation at the target site through the enhanced permeability and retention effect. Nevertheless, the lack of stability of micelles in the physiological environment limits their efficacy as a drug carrier. In particular, micelles tend to disassociate and prematurely release the encapsulated drugs, lowering delivery efficacy and creating toxicity concerns. Many efforts to enhance the stability of micelles have focused mainly on decreasing the critical micelle forming concentration and improving blood circulation. Herein, we review different strategies including crosslinking and non-crosslinking approaches designed to stabilize micelles and offer perspectives on future research directions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (DMR-1410853) and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (DP2DK111910).

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, 48202, MI, USA

    Yang Lu, Ershuai Zhang, Jianhai Yang & Zhiqiang Cao

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  1. Yang Lu
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Correspondence to Zhiqiang Cao.

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Lu, Y., Zhang, E., Yang, J. et al. Strategies to improve micelle stability for drug delivery. Nano Res. 11, 4985–4998 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-018-2152-3

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