Nanoparticle organelle targeting kinetics: a discussion on application

Background

Many diseases originate from specific cell organelles vital to cell function and survival. In these cases, verification of drug arrival to the relevant subcellular areas may contribute significantly to faster recovery and ailment eradication. Organelle targeting is a multi-factorial issue that, if addressed, can ease the path toward treating many diseases. For this purpose, nanotechnology ensures that a drug carrier with optimal physicochemical and biological effects is designed to have better effects. Meanwhile, studying this process's kinetics may contribute to better nano-carrier design and characterization.

Aim

This review gathers various subcellular targeting strategies and discusses the application of kinetics in a superior nano-drug delivery system development. Lastly, different organelles are explored, tackling the challenges of kinetics and uptake.

Methods

Different databases (Scopus, Google Scholar, and Pubmed) were searched with various keywords such as “kinetics”, “cellular uptake”, “sub-cellular”, “organelle”, “nanoparticle” and organelle titles (nucleus, lysosome, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi apparatus).

Results

The review discussed organelle targeting methods along with the utilization of uptake kinetics in vital cell compartments.

Conclusions

Understanding nanoparticle sub-cellular uptake kinetics will be of great use in the application of such nanostructures for drug delivery and in understanding the critical scale-up parameters for future clinical utilization. Enhanced therapeutic outcomes, fewer adverse effects, controlled drug release, and even the creation of improved imaging techniques may be among the several consequences that follow implementing optimal organelle targeting kinetics using nanoparticles.