Emergence of Polymer-Lipid Hybrid Systems in Healthcare Scenario

Introduction

Nanotechnology represents the most powerful tool in the field of drug delivery over the past decade (Dehaini, Fang, Luk, Pang, Hu, & Kroll, 2016). Nanotechnology deals with a nano-size range usually one billion of a meter. Nanotechnology has performed the miracle that the researcher could work at the atomic level which was not possible before (Liu, Miyoshi, & Nakamura, 2007). Newer generation nanocarriers have been structured, which proved to be a milestone in the field of nanotechnology. Recently a nanomedicine word has come into vogue, which is an engineered nano devices and nanostructured explored for treatment of various ailments (Ruggiero, & Pastorino, 2010). According to the National Institute of health, nanomedicine referred as the application of nanotechnology for the treatment, diagnosis, monitoring of disease and control of the biological system(Liu, Miyoshi, & Nakamura, 2007). Due to the poor bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of the available potential therapeutics, there is an urgent need of a delivery system which delivers the active molecule only to the target site, without side effects (Ruggiero, & Pastorino, 2010). Variety of drug delivery carriers has been introduced such as liposomes, dendrimers, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and nanocapsules. During the last decade, various liposome and nanoparticles based formulations emerged into market and number of them are under clinical trials (Zhang, Chan, Gu, Rhee, Wang, & Radovic-Moreno, 2008). Liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles represent most promising carriers which deliver the active therapeutics. Liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles represent promising nanocarriers that efficiently encapsulate drug which prevents its degradation along with the control and sustained drug release. Despite the many advantages of these formulations, some of the drawbacks associated with them, which limit their application to a certain extent. Therefore there is need of a novel nanocarrier, which possesses all of their individual advantages and excluding their drawbacks. These novel nanocarriers based upon the traditional approaches with some of the modification in their preparation method, which enhances their therapeutic potential. Nowadays researchers focus to develop a novel platform that is hybrid of a polymeric and liposomal-based carrier which combined peculiarity of both the system and excluding their shortcomings (Zhang, & Zhang, 2010). Lipid hybrid polymer nanoparticles (PLNs) contain the hydrophobic biodegradable polymeric core surrounded by a lipid layer for intensification of biocompatibility. This book chapter includes the introduction of PLNs along with their advantages, composition, and method of preparation. Finally, we highlight application and future challenges associated with the PLNs.