Recent Advances in Stimuli-responsive Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimer Nanocarriers for Drug Delivery

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers have gained so much attention for drug and gene delivery since they have been introduced decades ago. The internal cavities and multivalent surface groups of PAMAM dendrimers have been widely used for small-molecule drugs/biomacromolecules encapsulation and conjugation. The involvement of PAMAM dendrimers in drug delivery systems (DDSs) has significantly improved drug pharmacokinetics and enhanced drug accumulation in pathological sites. The recent progress has been made on the design of stimuliresponsive PAMAM-based nano-sized vehicles that potentially deliver drugs in a spatially and/or temporally controlled fashion. Such smart dendrimer nanocarriers further the efficiency of targeted drug delivery, while decrease systemic exposure. In the review, we discuss recent advances in the design of PAMAM dendrimer-based DDSs that are able to release carried therapeutics only in response to a specific endogenous and exogenous stimuli.