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Review
. 2023 Oct 23;15(10):2508.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15102508.

Polysaccharide-Based Nanogels to Overcome Mucus, Skin, Cornea, and Blood-Brain Barriers: A Review

Ju Wang  1 , Marco Viola  1 , Claudia Migliorini  1 , Luca Paoletti  1 , Silvia Arpicco  2 , Chiara Di Meo  1 , Pietro Matricardi  1
Affiliations
Review

Polysaccharide-Based Nanogels to Overcome Mucus, Skin, Cornea, and Blood-Brain Barriers: A Review

Ju Wang et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Nanocarriers have been extensively developed in the biomedical field to enhance the treatment of various diseases. However, to effectively deliver therapeutic agents to desired target tissues and enhance their pharmacological activity, these nanocarriers must overcome biological barriers, such as mucus gel, skin, cornea, and blood-brain barriers. Polysaccharides possess qualities such as excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, unique biological properties, and good accessibility, making them ideal materials for constructing drug delivery carriers. Nanogels, as a novel drug delivery platform, consist of three-dimensional polymer networks at the nanoscale, offering a promising strategy for encapsulating different pharmaceutical agents, prolonging retention time, and enhancing penetration. These attractive properties offer great potential for the utilization of polysaccharide-based nanogels as drug delivery systems to overcome biological barriers. Hence, this review discusses the properties of various barriers and the associated constraints, followed by summarizing the most recent development of polysaccharide-based nanogels in drug delivery to overcome biological barriers. It is expected to provide inspiration and motivation for better design and development of polysaccharide-based drug delivery systems to enhance bioavailability and efficacy while minimizing side effects.

Keywords: biological barriers; drug delivery; nanocarriers; nanogel; polysaccharides.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic diagram of muco-adhesion and mucus permeation properties of polysaccharide-based nanoparticles. Reprinted with permission from Yuan et al. [42]. Copyright 2023 Carbohydrate Polymers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of the (A) skin structure, (B) epidermis structure, and (C) stratum corneum composition (“brick and mortar” structure). (D) Potential routes of skin penetration for nanomaterials. Adapted with permission from Salvioni et al. [71]. Copyright 2021 Advances in Colloid and Interface Science.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) The anatomy of the eye, (B) routes of drug administration for ocular drug delivery. Reprinted with permission from Li et al. [99]. Copyright 2023 Journal of Nanobiotechnology.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Schematic diagram of different mechanisms for crossing the BBB. (B) Schematic diagram of the BBB structure. (C) Schematic illustration of the nose-to-brain administration route. Reprinted with permission from Wu et al. [125]. Copyright 2023 Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.
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Grants and funding

This research was funded by “Ricerche Ateneo” RM12117A81AEF242.