Dendrimers and derivatives as a potential therapeutic tool in regenerative medicine strategies-A review

Since the pioneering work dealing with the synthesis and physicochemical aspects of dendrimers, a predictable and tunable set of compositions for therapeutic, scaffolding and imaging systems has been reported. These are well documented, but many hot issues should be examined and reviewed. Herein, a review is given on dendritic nanopolymers and their applications that show promise in the field of regenerative medicine. This review begins with a brief overview on research merging nanotechnology and regenerative medicine. Fundamentals of the synthesis and macromolecular structure of dendritic polymers are provided. Dendrimers fulfill the requirements as carriers for gene, nucleic acids, bioactive molecules and peptide/protein delivery aimed at modulate the cells functions, in vitro and in vivo. However, to make use of this potential, toxicological, drug-loading capacity, surface engineering and host-guest chemistries in dendrimers must be addressed and thus are also discussed. We focus on recent work involving dendrimers with applications in tissue engineering and the central nervous system. Due to their innovative character, applications beyond drug delivery systems became possible, namely as scaffolding and chemoattractants for tissue regeneration, and implantable biodegradable nanomaterial-based medical devices integrated with drug delivery functions (theranostics). Finally, we highlight promising areas for further research and comment on how and why dendrimer and dendron technology should be viewed as the next generation of biomaterials for the 21st century. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.