Abstract

BIORESPONSIVE POLYMERS: THE CORE OF THE NEXT-GEN TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY

*Kavya B., Sudhir V. V

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Abstract

The field of targeted drug delivery has revolutionized therapeutic strategies by allowing drugs to reach specific tissues or pathological sites, thereby minimizing systemic toxicity and enhancing clinical efficacy. However, conventional drug delivery systems often lack the precision to respond to the complex and dynamic biological environments encountered in vivo. This has led to the emergence of bioresponsive polymers, also known as stimuli-sensitive or smart polymers, which can undergo physical or chemical transformations in response to specific internal stimuli—such as pH fluctuations, temperature gradients, enzyme concentrations, redox potential, or glucose levels. These polymers enable spatiotemporal control of drug release, making them particularly valuable in personalized and precision medicine. Notably, their application in oncology, inflammation, diabetes, and infection management has shown significant promise. For instance, pH-responsive hydrogels release drugs preferentially in acidic tumor microenvironments, while enzymesensitive nanoparticles degrade selectively in inflamed tissues. Despite these advancements, the clinical translation of such systems remains limited due to challenges like batch reproducibility, biocompatibility, and regulatory hurdles. Therefore, there is a pressing need to design highly reproducible, biocompatible, and scalable polymeric systems with robust responsiveness. This review explores the classification, design principles, and recent advancements in bioresponsive polymer-based TDDS and outlines their current limitations and future opportunities in therapeutic applications.

Keywords: Bioresponsive polymers, Ultra sensitive biopolymers, Biomolecule sensitive bioplymers, ROS bioresponsive polymers, Future Directions.