Stimuli‐Responsive Lipid‐Based Nanocarriers for Antimicrobial Therapy

Infectious diseases are a global public health problem exacerbated by microbial resistance to the available arsenal of antimicrobials. Nanotechnology represents a viable strategy to improve antimicrobial efficacy. Lipid nanocarriers can be easily modified with specific excipients to trigger antibiotic release in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli at the infection site. This scoping review aimed to assess whether stimulus‐responsive lipid nanoparticles enhance the antimicrobial activity of different active compounds. The searches were conducted on the Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed databases. Out of 685 records, 36 were selected after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Liposomes were the most widely used nanocarriers in the literature found (63.89%). The most frequently studied stimuli were pH (41.67%) and multiple stimuli (19.44%). The results demonstrated that organic or inorganic excipients can increase the efficacy of antibiotics in response to stimuli. The responsiveness conferred by such excipients was confirmed by greater in vitro release in the presence of the stimulus, as well as improved antimicrobial activity in vitro and in vivo compared with the isolated compounds. Research in this field still requires further evaluation of toxicity and pharmacokinetics in robust models before proceeding to the clinical phase.