Gheorghe DC, Niculescu AG, Bîrcă AC, Grumezescu AM. Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Inner Ear Infections.
NANOMATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021;
11:1311. [PMID:
34067544 PMCID:
PMC8156593 DOI:
10.3390/nano11051311]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The inner ear is sensitive to various infections of viral, bacterial, or fungal origin, which, if left untreated, may lead to hearing loss or progress through the temporal bone and cause intracranial infectious complications. Due to its isolated location, the inner ear is difficult to treat, imposing an acute need for improving current therapeutic approaches. A solution for enhancing antimicrobial treatment performance is the use of nanoparticles. Different inorganic, lipidic, and polymeric-based such particles have been designed, tested, and proven successful in the controlled delivery of medication, improving drug internalization by the targeted cells while reducing the systemic side effects. This paper makes a general presentation of common inner ear infections and therapeutics administration routes, further focusing on newly developed nanoparticle-mediated treatments.
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