Dendrimers for drug delivery: An overview of its classes, synthesis, and applications

The dendrimers in pharmaceuticals received much consideration from the scientific fraternity due to their unique and versatile characteristics. Primarily, it includes monodispersity, three-dimensional structure, surface tenability, release modification, etc. This review provides insight into the classification of dendrimers for drug delivery systems. Including the introduction, characteristics, synthesis, and applications of dendrimers have been illustrated. The use of dendrimers in different pharmaceutical applications such as the delivery of anticancer agents, solubility enhancement, antimicrobial agent delivery, etc. has been discussed in detail. Moreover, special attention has been given to the delivery of macromolecules such as DNA, and RNA using dendrimers have been discussed. Moreover, the toxicity issues, current challenges, and future perspectives of dendrimers in pharmaceuticals have been discussed. The information details included in this review article were obtained after a thorough review of the research paper, review articles, and patents on dendrimers published during the periods of 1985–2023. As an outcome, the application of dendrimers shows the ability to deliver drugs to the target site via a passive mechanism by enhancing permeation retention and active targeting by attaching to the ligands on its surface with simple ionic interaction or chemical conjugation to the delivery system. As well, designed dendrimers offer good biocompatibility, enhancement in solubility, and bioavailability. Moreover, the use of dendrimers for DNA and RNA delivery showed promising potential in the management of health illnesses including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, CNS disorders, etc. This review article signifies the emerging role of dendritic macromolecules for therapies and diagnostic imaging making them the newest class of macromolecular nano-scale delivery devices. In conclusion, the application of dendrimers for the delivery of synthetic drug molecules, biological macromolecules, etc. with improved presentations is possible. Therefore, in the future, the use of modified dendrimers in pharmaceuticals can be an exceptional alternative for drug delivery.