Description
Nanoparticles (NPs) or microparticles are those tiny vehicles having a particle size ranging from 1 to 100 nm or 0.1 to 100 µm. According to the constructing materials, they can be classified into carbon-based NPs, metal NPs, ceramics NPs, semiconductor NPs, polymeric NPs, and lipid-based NPs. Development of NPs and microparticles have been widely applied in a wide range of healthcare fields such as drug delivery and building of controlled release systems. By encapsulation of active ingredients (APIs) within their inner cores, the cytotoxicity of drugs to normal tissues and risk of immunogenicity can be significantly reduced. Additionally, modification of the surface of nanoparticles or microparticles with certain biological molecules such as peptides, aptamers, antibodies, is thought to be an effective strategy to achieve targeting disease drug delivery.