Abstract

Physical drug delivery through smart nanocarrier and external stimulus could lead to significant improvements of drug potency as well as noticeable decrease in unwanted side effects. Currently, many external energy sources such as light, magnetic fields, ultrasound, ..., are under investigation as external stimulus for physical drug delivery. The purpose of this paper is to review most recent developments of triggered release of drugs and biomolecules under external ultrasound exposure. A special attention has also been paid to the metal nanostructures for ultrasound mediated drug delivery and also, other nanostructures were also considered. We briefly introduced ultrasound regulation and safety consideration. Further it is concluded that the use of nanostructures for delivery of active biomolecules in combination with ultrasound as a stimulus to trigger drug release from the nanocarriers and increased drug penetration has gained much attention for effective drug delivery and overcoming difficulties of multi-drug resistance of cancer.