Novel approaches of the nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for knee joint injuries: A review

The knee joint is one of the largest, most complex, and frequently utilized organs in the body. It is very vulnerable to injuries due to activities, diseases, or accidents, which lead to or cause knee joint injuries in people of all ages. There are several types of knee joint injuries such as contusions, sprains, and strains to the ligament, tendon injuries, cartilage injuries, meniscus injuries, and inflammation of synovial membrane. To date, many drug delivery systems, e.g. nanoparticles, dendrimers, liposomes, micelles, and exosomes, have been used for the treatment of knee joint injuries. They aim to alleviate or reverse the symptoms with an improvement of the function of the knee joint by restoring or curing it. The nanosized structures show good biodegradability, biocompatibility, precise site-specific delivery, prolonged drug release, and enhanced efficacy. They regulate cell proliferation and differentiation, ECM synthesis, proinflammatory factor secretion, etc. to promote repair of injuries. The goal of this review is to outline the finding and studies of the novel strategies of nanotechnologybased drug delivery systems and provide future perspectives to combat the challenges of knee joint injuries by using nanotechnology.