Emerging Stimuli-Responsive Nanoparticles for Bioactive Delivery
A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 41
Special Issue Editors
Interests: drug delivery; inhalation formulation; nanomedicines
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Drug delivery is a key focus in pharmaceutical sciences, where precise targeting remains the most critical challenge. One promising strategy for targeting is the use of disease-specific microenvironments, such as altered pH, redox state, enzyme activity, or oxidative stress, as triggers for controlled drug release. To realize this strategy, stimuli-responsive nanoparticles have emerged, capable of reacting to diverse internal and external cues. These materials serve as versatile platforms that achieve disease-specific drug release while reducing systemic side effects.
More recently, such stimuli-responsive nanoparticles have progressed beyond the mere control of drug release, actively contributing to therapeutic processes. They can engage in disease biomarker sensing and diagnosis, modulation and activation of immune responses, enhancement of cellular uptake, potentiation of drug efficacy, and induction of synergistic effects between materials and drugs. They are also capable of selective interactions with intracellular organelles such as mitochondria, endo-/lysosomes, and nuclei.
This Special Issue aims to showcase recent progress in stimuli-responsive nanoparticles for drug delivery, with a focus on their design principles, mechanisms, applications, translational potential, and future perspectives. Particular attention will be given to the ongoing evolution of smart drug delivery systems from stimuli-responsive carriers to therapeutically active platforms that can regulate biological processes.
Prof. Dr. Marc Schneider
Dr. Sangeun Lee
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- disease microenvironment
- smart nanoparticles
- biofunctional nanomedicine
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