Dendrimer pharmacokinetics: the effect of size, structure and surface characteristics on ADME properties

Dendrimers show increasing promise as drug-delivery vectors and can be generated with a wide range of scaffold structures, sizes and surface functionalities. To this point, the majority of studies of dendrimer-based drug-delivery systems have detailed pharmacodynamic outcomes, or have followed the pharmacokinetics of a solubilized or conjugated drug. By contrast, detailed commentary on the in vivo fate of the dendrimer carrier is less evident, even though the pharmacokinetics of the carrier will likely dictate both pharmacodynamic and toxicokinetic outcomes. In the current article, the influence of size, structure and surface functionality on the absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) properties of dendrimers have been examined and the implications of these findings for delivery system design are discussed.