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Multicompartmental Micro‐ and Nanocapsules: Hierarchy and Applications in Biosciences
Author(s) -
Delcea Mihaela,
Yashchenok Alexey,
Videnova Kristina,
Kreft Oliver,
Möhwald Helmuth,
Skirtach Andre G.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.200900359
Subject(s) - nanocapsules , nanotechnology , acentric factor , isotropy , drug delivery , biomolecule , materials science , chemistry , physics , nanoparticle , optics , crystallography
Multicompartmentalized micro‐ and nanocapsules allow simultaneous delivery of several vectors or biomolecules; they are the next generation of carriers with increased complexity. Here we overview multicompartment micro‐ and nanocapsules and present a road‐map for future developments in the field. Four basic building block structures are demonstrated, three isotropic: concentric, pericentric, and innercentric, and one anisotropic: acentric. As an elaborate implementation of multicompartmentalization, an enzyme‐catalyzed reaction inside the same capsule carrying both an enzyme and a substrate is shown. Applications of multicompartmentalized microcapsules for simultaneous multiple drug delivery in bio‐medicine are discussed.