UVA-Triggered Drug Release and Photo-Protection of Skin

Abstract

Light has attracted special attention as a stimulus for triggered drug delivery systems (DDS) due to its intrinsic features of being spatially and temporally tunable. Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation has recently been used as a source of external light stimuli to control the release of drugs using a "switch on- switch off" procedure. This review discusses the promising potential of UVA radiation as the light source of choice for photo-controlled drug release from a range of photo-responsive and photolabile nanostructures via photo-isomerization, photo-cleavage, photo-crosslinking, and photo-induced rearrangement. In addition to its clinical use, we will also provide here an overview of the recent UVA-responsive drug release approaches that are developed for phototherapy and skin photoprotection.

Keywords: UVA-triggered drug release; caged iron chelators; drug delivery systems (DDS); skin photo-protection; smart sunscreens; up-conversion nanoparticles.