Nanoparticle applications in cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide. In spite of major efforts in medical and surgical interventions, deaths from cardiovascular diseases remain unacceptably high, warranting novel strategies for more effective treatments. To improve cardiovascular diseases therapy, novel drug delivery systems such as nanoparticles, which can control drug biodistribution and specifically target drugs to their site of actions, are promising options. Nanoparticles can increase bioavailability of effective drug concentration at the target site and minimize adverse effects by controlling drug availability at off-target sites. The main aim of this article is to briefly review nanocarriers’ researches (liposomes, micelles, polymeric nanoparticle and metal based nanostructures) for cardiovascular diseases namely atherosclerosis, restenosis and myocardial infarction. The results revealed promising efficacy in nanocarrier mediated therapies; however, these novel nanosystems should be optimized for this application area.