Polymer nanogels: A versatile nanoscopic drug delivery platform

In this review we put the spotlight on crosslinked polymer nanogels, a promising platform that has the characteristics of an ideal drug delivery vehicle. Some of the key aspects of drug delivery vehicle design like stability, response to biologically relevant stimuli, passive targeting, active targeting, toxicity and ease of synthesis are discussed. We discuss several delivery systems in this light and highlight some examples of systems, which satisfy some or all of these design requirements. In particular, we point to the advantages that crosslinked polymeric systems bring to drug delivery. We review some of the synthetic methods of nanogel synthesis and conclude with the diverse applications in drug delivery where nanogels have been fruitfully employed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.