APPLICATION PROSPECTS OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL DENDRITIC MOLECULES IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY

Dendrimers are routinely synthesized as tuneable nanostructures that may be designed and regulated as a function of their size, shape, surface chemistry and interior void space. Dendrimers are hyperbranched polymers with unique physical and chemical properties. They have the radial symmetry of molecules with highly ordered, homogeneous, monodisperse branched tree-like structure. Their size and molecular weight are strictly fixed. Due to these properties dendrimers can be used as carrying agents for active or passive drugs targeting in nanobiotechnology. The term «dendrimer» was introduced in the second half of the twentieth century. Afterwards the interest in these polymer types has increased dramatically, at first – as interest in solving the synthesis problem, at second – as the question of practical and commercial dendrimers applications in biomedicine and biotechnology. A significant number of articles devoted to the synthesis methods of different types of dendrimers and their behavior in various physical and chemical conditions. Based on these data we could predict the properties of dendrimers in in vivo and in vitro experiments. These fundamental scientific advances combined with practical methods of bioactive molecules covalently conjugation and non-covalent encapsulate them as guest molecules into dendrimers void spaces, provide a highly versatile and potentially extremely powerful technological platform for drug delivery. Dendrimer as a drug delivery agent is a promising, safe and selective drug delivery option. It has highly selective nature for targeting the desired tissue is the most essential property and holds a promising future for the treatment of several disorders. Dendrimers help in achieving increased bioavailability, sustained, controlled as well as targeted release of drug. There is reduction in the amount of drug and systemic toxicity while the therapeutic efficacy increases. This approach as a drug delivery system certainly promises a reliable, safe, selective and precise method of drug delivery. Higher efficiency, changes in pharmacokinetics, reduced toxicity and targeted delivery have been shown for drugs conjugated or incorporated in dendrimers in comparison with the original drug forms more than once. The current and future prospects for the nanoparticles and conjugates based on dendrimers in nanobiotechnology and anticancer therapy application are discussed in this review.