School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo , Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2020 Dec;17(12):1781-1805. doi: 10.1080/17425247.2020.1819979. Epub 2020 Sep 18.
Lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) are organized mesophases with intermediate properties between liquids and solids. The LLC and its liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LCNPs) have attracted great interest from the scientific community in recent years as potential drug delivery systems due to the high internal ordering and symmetry with a wide interfacial area.
This article aims to gather information and to provide a description of the highly organized structures of LLCs. Updates on production methods and new insights for LCNPs optimization and physico-chemical and morphological caracterization techniques were discussed. We also discussed why these systems proved to be a platform for the design of nanocarrier drug delivery, with an emphasis on topical and transdermal applications.
Drug delivery platforms are of particular importance to improve the biopharmaceutical aspects of therapies topically. Although several systems can be used, LLC or LCNPs appear to be favored due to their similarity to the lipid structure of the skin. The highly ordered structure and the possibility of chemical modifications make it possible to obtain better clinical responses. The results of several studies support the innovations in this field and predict that these systems can innovate the market of technologies for the treatment of cutaneous diseases and cosmetology.
溶致液晶（LLC）是一种具有介于液体和固体之间的中间性质的组织有序中间相。近年来，由于具有高内部有序性和对称性以及较大的界面面积，LLC 及其液晶纳米颗粒（LCNP）作为潜在的药物传递系统引起了科学界的极大兴趣。
本文旨在收集信息并描述 LLC 的高度有序结构。讨论了生产方法的更新以及 LCNP 优化和物理化学及形态特征技术的新见解。我们还讨论了为什么这些系统被证明是纳米载体药物传递设计的平台，重点是局部和透皮应用。
药物传递平台对于改善局部治疗的生物制药方面尤为重要。尽管可以使用几种系统，但由于 LLC 或 LCNP 与皮肤的脂质结构相似，因此似乎更受欢迎。高度有序的结构和化学修饰的可能性使得获得更好的临床反应成为可能。多项研究的结果支持该领域的创新，并预测这些系统可以为治疗皮肤病和美容学的技术市场带来创新。
