Emerging self-regulated micro/nano drug delivery devices: A step forward towards intelligent diagnosis and therapy

Self-regulated micro/nano drug delivery devices are smart drug delivery platforms that can sense the changes of physiological indexes and adjust their own properties or performance in response to the stimuli, especially the internal biological signals. Due to the great convenience and treatment outcomes they can bring to the patients who are suffering from chronic diseases, self-regulated drug delivery devices have drawn wide research interests. Armed with advanced micro/nanotechnology and mechanical/electronic fabrication technique as well as a better understanding of physiological characteristics and biomarkers, numerous breakthroughs have been made in developing closed-loop regulating micro/nanodevices. Here we survey the current platforms for self-regulated drug delivery, introduce their applications in different diseases and summarize strategies to design self-regulated micro/nano drug delivery devices. This review mainly summarized the recent advances in self-regulated micro/nano drug delivery devices for intelligent diagnosis and therapeutics. The designing principles and the architecture of the self-regulated devices for intelligent diagnosis and therapeutics were discussed. The current limitations and challenges for devices that allow closed-loop regulation were examined and the future orientation and prospect were envisioned. [Display omitted] •Self-regulated drug delivery devices based on nanotechnology and micro-fabrication hold great promises in the clinic.•The designing principles, platforms and architectures of the advanced closed-loop regulated devices are reviewed.•Challenges for the clinical application and future development directions of the self-regulated devices are discussed.•Self-regulated devices are the ideal candidates to realize point-of-care diagnosis and on-demand therapy.