[SPECIAL ISSUE] Advances in Physical Methods for Drug Delivery

Special Issue "Advances in Physical Methods for Drug Delivery"

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the increasing development of therapeutic molecules and novel-targeted therapies, therapeutic progress remains modest for many prevalent and costly diseases (i.e., cancer, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, etc.). The main obstacles are the non-specific delivery of drugs (related to drug formulation or physicochemical properties) and the presence of biological barriers (i.e., endothelial barriers, interstitial pressure, extracellular matrix, plasma membranes, etc.). These barriers thus limit the access of a drug to its molecular or cellular target, hence restraining their therapeutic efficacies. In addition, the majority of these therapeutic molecules induce significant side effects in healthy tissues. In this context, any targeted and active drug delivery method promoting increased drug bioavailability specifically in diseased tissues, while at the same time reducing healthy tissue side effects, remains a major challenge in pharmacotherapy.

Among all drug delivery methods, physical methods represent a promising approach for the safe and efficient delivery of therapeutic molecules in clinics. The better understanding of the action of physical forces (electric field, ultrasound, magnetic field, laser, etc.) at the tissue level has increased the interest of scientific and medical communities for the use of these physical methods alone or in combination with physically responsive particles (e.g., liposomes, bubbles, micelles) in drug delivery. These methods lead to the reversible permeabilization of vessels and/or targeted tissues, thus facilitating extravasation of drugs into permeabilized tissues and in turn enhancing their bioavailability. In addition, these physical forces can also induce the local release of drugs from nanoparticles through a mechanical and/or thermal stimulus in the target tissue. Hence, the delivery of drugs in the target tissue can be controlled spatially and temporally through focus and action on these physical forces. In comparison with other drug delivery methods, physical methods are a minimally invasive, easy to apply, and cost-effective method.

The present Special Issue in Pharmaceutics aims to gather a collection of research articles or reviews describing:

• Basic mechanisms (in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo) of physically mediated drug delivery;
• Proof-of-concept, preclinical, and clinical investigations;
• Pharmacokinetics and biodistribution aspects upon physically mediated drug delivery;
• Efficacy and safety aspects upon physically mediated drug delivery.

Below is an inclusive, but not exhaustive, list of various technologies that this Special Issue will cover: electric field; ultrasound; photoporation; magnetic field; hydrodynamic injection; biolistic; laser beam drug delivery; jet injection and plasma.

Dr. Jean-Michel Escoffre
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

• physical methods
• drug delivery
• physically responsive particles
• efficacy
• safety

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Jean-Michel Escoffre
Guest Editor
UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France
Interests: microbubbles; ultrasound; sonoporation; ultrasound imaging; drug and gene delivery