Jafar Ezzati Nazhad Dolatabadi
1,2, Hadi Valizadeh
3,4*, Hamed Hamishehkar
31 Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
3 Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
4 Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
In recent years, nanomaterials have been widely applied as advanced drug and gene delivery nanosystems. Among them, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have attracted great attention as colloidal drug delivery systems for incorporating hydrophilic or lipophilic drugs and various macromolecules as well as proteins and nucleic acids. Therefore, SLNs offer great promise for controlled and site specific drug and gene delivery. This article includes general information about SLN structures and properties, production procedures, characterization. In addition, recent progress on development of drug and gene delivery systems using SLNs was reviewed.