Polymeric Nanomedicines as a Treatment of Renal Diseases

A new dawn in the treatment for kidney patients prefigures in the same time with the raised challenges by novel discovered polymeric systems. Since a very large number of present diseases have the main generating mechanism at nanoscale levels, nanomedicine could bring huge improvements in their treatment or early diagnosis. Nanonephrology, which is an extension of nanomedicine, besides an investigation of kidney processes on cellular levels, is mainly focused on the management of kidney patients with outcome innovating nanomedical therapies. Renal diseases, an expanding world’s health priority, benefit in the present days only from classical treatments as dialysis and kidney transplantation that are considered to be life-saving alternatives with the main disadvantage in the same time represented by high costs supported by national health funds. Acute kidney injuries and chronic kidney diseases, the major renal disorder categories, could take future advantages on novel polymeric systems improved and adapted in order to achieve kidney targeting in an active and close manner. From organ regeneration to functional imaging, polymers as PEG, PVD, PLGA, polysaccharides as chitosan with various modifications or PAMAM dendrimers may successfully be used in alternative therapies for renal diseases. In this chapter the main applications of these polymers as nanomedicines are detailed.

Keywords: Nanonephrology, nanoparticulated systems, drug targeting, acute kidney injury, chronic kidney diseases, renal regenerative medicine, polymeric conjugates, PEGylated nanoparticles, chitosan, biocompatibility, biodegradability, cytotoxicity, magnetic nanoparticles, polyethyleneimine, poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles, targeted kidney carriers, kidney clearance process, aptamers, PAMAM dendrimers, functional kidney imaging.