Reyhaneh Nasr Azadani - Department of Biomaterials Nanotechnology and Tissue engineering, School of Advanced Technology in Medicine, Isfahan University of MedicalSciences, Isfahan, Iran
Milad Sabbagh - Lecturer at Dept. Biomedical Eng. & Dept. Laboratory Instrumentation Eng. Principal Investigator at ""Ebn-e-Sina Micro-Engineering Group"", ""ESMS"" group, Tehran, Iran
Haniye Salehi - Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman, Iran
Amir Cheshmi - Department of Materials Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Shariati Avenue, Babol, Iran
Ali Reza - School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China
Beena Kumari - Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Indira Gandhi University, Meerpur, Rewari, Haryana, India

Drug delivery is known as an approach for transporting a pharmaceutical compound in animals and the human body to achieve effective therapy. Drug carriers are usually based on nanoparticles synthesized by several methods. The sol-gel method is an inexpensive and simple process to prepare drug carriers that can produce particles with a high degree of homogeneity and purity. The process of sol-gel involves hydrolysis, polymerization/condensation of monomers, particle growth, and gel formation. The properties of materials including composition and morphology are affected by several factors and can be controlled by the process parameters. Due to the advantages of this method, it is widely used for drug carriers’ preparation. In this study, the definition and advantages of the sol-gel process are discussed. Moreover, drug carriers such as organic-inorganic, silica, and calcium composites, as well as bioactive glass synthesized by this method are reviewed.

Drug carriers, Organic-inorganic composites, Silica composites, Calcium composites, Bioactive glass