الفهرس 
Abstract
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Abstract
Within the last decade, there has been a massive progress in the micro and nanotechnology which in turn had a great impact on biomedical research including drug delivery. Many new drugs have been developed through the dramatic advances in biotechnology and pharmaceutical chemistry. However, many of these drugs along with numerous existing ones suffer from many limitations such as their undesired (low or high) solubility, poor stability and high toxicity. As a result, there has been a fast growing demand for advanced drug carriers. The main objectives of such carriers are to carry the drug to its specific site (targeted or localized drug delivery), decrease possible side effects together with improving their physicochemical properties. At the same time, such drug carriers should be biocompatible, biodegradable, inexpensive and easily manufactured. In addition, they should maintain optimum drug concentration (within the therapeutic window) for prolonged period in order to reduce frequent administration and minimize patient discomfort. In this context, a variety of materials and techniques are extensively investigated for developing micro and Nano-carriers including polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, micelles, carbon nanotubes, dendrimers, magnetic nanoparticles, silicon oxide nanoparticles, and quantum dots. Recently, there was a decline in the application of chemically derived drug carriers (i.e. synthetic) due to their potential hazards owing to their accumulation inside the body and difficulty of their elimination. In addition, synthetic drug carriers might result in disruption of the tissues micro-environments which could lead to serious consequences such as cancer. On the other hand, drug carriers from natural source became more popular in many applications as compared to their synthetic counterparts owing to their relative safety and scalability.