Design and applications of smart nanocarriers to achieve controlled release of antimicrobial agents for regenerative medicine

The most worldwide problem to obtain a desired antimicrobial performance of a drug or device is antibiotic resistance and the uncontrolled drug release from devices. Therefore, there are a lot of challenges unmet for obtaining efficient drug delivery and providing a drug release set-up which is optimized by calculating environmental factors (1). Smart polymers and hydrogels, designed as carriers, offer a promising avenue to overcome these challenges. In fact, when designed as electro-responsive structures, they allow for a controlled drug delivery (2). Indeed, conventional drug delivery methods often suffer from a high release rate, which limits their efficacy, whereas electro-responsive carriers, with their ability to respond to external stimuli, represent an innovative solution for achieving precise control regarding drug release rates. Furthermore, electrostimulation-assisted regulated drug release, particularly for antibiotics, has garnered a lot of attention in recent years. This was accomplished by loading the drugs into carriers, such as fibers, films, hydrogels, or particles, that either included or were composed of electroactive polymers, which are molecules that can alter their volume, redox status, or molecular conformation in response to external electric fields. This approach has also proven effective in delivering short peptides with medicinal qualities in controlled conditions (3).