title: Multicompartmental micro- and nanocapsules: hierarchy and applications in biosciences.
abstract: Multicompartmentalized micro- and nanocapsules allow simultaneous delivery of several vectors or biomolecules; they are the next generation of carriers with increased complexity. Here we overview multicompartment micro- and nanocapsules and present a road-map for future developments in the field. Four basic building block structures are demonstrated, three isotropic: concentric, pericentric, and innercentric, and one anisotropic: acentric. As an elaborate implementation of multicompartmentalization, an enzyme-catalyzed reaction inside the same capsule carrying both an enzyme and a substrate is shown. Applications of multicompartmentalized microcapsules for simultaneous multiple drug delivery in bio-medicine are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Research Park Golm, Potsdam 14424, Germany. mihaela.delcea@mpikg.mpg.de
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delcea
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yashchenok
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Videnova
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kreft
authors.forename: Helmuth
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Möhwald
authors.forename: Andre G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Skirtach
mesh_terms: D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry; D002214:Capsules / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D053769:Nanocapsules / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical
chemical_list: D002214:Capsules; D053769:Nanocapsules; D002119:Calcium Carbonate