title: Molecularly imprinted polymers in drug delivery: state of art and future perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic receptors, characterized by a high selectivity for the selected template. Among the different applications of MIPs, their use as controlled/sustained drug delivery devices has been extensively explored, even though the optimization of such devices needs to be performed before they are applied in clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Within drug delivery, one of the most promising fields is the possibility to modulate the drug release profile in response to a specific external stimulus; MIPs represent potentially suitable vehicles, because of the possibility to insert a stimuli-responsive co-monomer in their structure. This review discusses recent advances in the use of external stimuli to modulate drug release, as well as the synthetic strategies devoted to increase the water compatibility of these systems, which is a base requirement for their application in biomedicine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although it is easy to imagine imprinted polymers for biomedical applications, several aspects have to be further investigated, such as the in vivo studies, efficiency and biocompatibility. However, we think that in the next few years it will possible to see unprecedented progress in the preparation of such systems and the translational application of these intelligent structures in medicine.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università della Calabria, Edificio Polifunzionale, Cosenza, Italy. francesco.puoci@unical.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Puoci
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cirillo
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Curcio
authors.forename: Ortensia Ilaria
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Parisi
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Iemma
authors.forename: Nevio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Picci
mesh_terms: D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D054802:Molecular Imprinting / Q000379:methods*; D011108:Polymers / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers