title: Microfabricated particulate drug-delivery systems.
abstract: Micro- and nanoparticulate drug-delivery systems (DDSs) play a significant role in formulation sciences. Most particulate DDSs are scaffold-free, although some particles are encapsulated inside other biomaterials for controlled release. Despite rapid progress in recent years, challenges still remain in controlling the homogenicity of micro-/nanoparticles, especially for two crucial factors in particulate DDSs: the size and shape of the particles. Recent approaches make use of microfabrication techniques to generate micro-/nanoparticles with highly controllable architectures free of scaffolds. This review presents an overview of a burgeoning field of DDSs, which can potentially overcome some drawbacks of conventional techniques for particle fabrication and offer better control of particulate DDSs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Sui Yung
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Won Gu
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D055616:Microtechnology; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D010316:Particle Size