A platform for nitric oxide delivery.

Nitric oxide (NO) is one of the structurally smallest pharmaceutical molecules, which shows great potential as an anti-restenosis, wound healing, anticancer, and antibacterial agent. To date, while most of the studies have focused mainly on demonstrating the versatility of the NO-releasing materials, little effort has been made on developing successful NO-delivery strategies for advancing NO-mediated therapy. Thus, the quest for a rationally designed NO-delivery system is becoming one of the important issues in the biomedical applications of NO. This feature article discusses the overall research trends in the NO-delivery, focusing mainly on the various particle-type and coating platforms. The objective of this article is not only to highlight the fundamental principle and challenges associated with NO-delivery, but also to provide insight for the further development of novel NO-delivery platforms for clinical applications in the near future.