Research progress on drug delivery systems for curcumin in the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors

Table 1 Summary of drug delivery systems

Drug delivery system	Structure	Advantage	Disadvantage	Common types
Polymer	Shell-core structure	Hydrophobic, high and precise drug concentration with low side effects	Poor water solubility	Bioadhesive micelles, active targeting micelles, etc.
Liposome	Lipid bilayer microvesicle carriers	Diversity, targeting, lymphatic targeting, liver protection, etc.	High cost	Unilamellar liposomes, multilamellar liposomes, liposome gel, etc.
Microsphere	Shell-core structure	Covering bad odors, avoiding incompatible combinations, high stability and safety	Relatively short duration and relatively large drug dosage	Conventional injection microspheres, occlusive microspheres, magnetic microspheres, etc.
Nanoparticle (NPs)	Shell-core structure	Amphiphilic, controllable loading effect, long half-life, etc.	Low solubility of inorganic NPs	Lipophilic NPs, nanocapsules, nanospheres, and inorganic NPs, etc.
Nanogel	Intramolecular cross-linked polymer	Anti-fouling, antibacterial, targeting, small size, easily penetrating cells, etc.	No obvious disadvantage	pH-responsive hydrogels, hyaluronic acid hydrogels, copolymer hydrogels
Cyclodextrin	Bimolecular complex	High water solubility, low toxicity, high stability	No obvious disadvantage	α-cyclodextrin, β-cyclodextrin, partially methylated-β-cyclodextrin, etc.