Table 1.

Nanocarriers Studied for the Efficient Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases

Types of Nanocarriers	Drugs Used in the Treatment of CVDs	Biological Functions	Model Organisms Used	Limitations of Drugs	Advantages of Nanoplatforms	Reference
Liposomes
Polyethylene glycol conjugated liposomal nanoparticles	[Pyr1]-apelin-13 polypeptide	Controls cardiac hypertrophy and hypertrophy-induced heart failure	Murine model of transverse aortic constriction	Short half-life in circulation	Prolonged apelin stability in the blood circulation Potentiated beneficial effects in cardiac function	[72]
Liposomal nanoparticles coated with polyethylene glycol	Prednisolone phosphate	Ideal for atherosclerotic disease	Clinical trials in humans	Short half-life in circulation	Prolonged the drug’s half-life to 45–63 hour in humans	[73]
Naked liposomes and water-soluble double emulsion polymer	Streptokinase (Streptase)	Plasminogen activators	Rabbits model of autologous carotid artery thrombosis	Shows immunogenic effect and severe bleeding complications	Reduced infarct size and reperfusion time and less hemorrhage	[74]
PEGylated Liposomes, with a peptide sequence of fibrinogen gamma-chain	Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA, (alteplase))	Plasminogen activator	Rats model of inferior vena cava thrombosis	Short half-life of rtPA	Enhanced thrombolytic activity	[75]
Metallic Nanoparticles
Gold	Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)	To treat severe hindlimb ischemia	Murine ischemic hindlimb model	Short half-life of VEGF in circulation Less specific targeting	Highest targeting	[76]
Gold	Conjugated with miR155	For the management of cardiovascular diseases in postmenopausal diabetic patients	Ovariectomized diabetic mouse model	Inefficient targeting of miR155 to macrophages	Efficient delivery of miR155 into macrophages via phagocytosis which in turn restores the cardiac function	[77]
Gold	Bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs)	Potentiates the cardiogenic differentiation of stem Cells for infarcted myocardium regeneration	Nil	Decreased ability to differentiate into multiple lineages	Superior cardiomyogenic differentiation Enhanced biological and functional effects on the regeneration of infarcted myocardium	[78]
Gold	Levosimendan (Simdax)	Effective inotropic agent that increases myocardial contractility in patients with heart failure.	Heart failure Wistar rat model	Decreased preferential targeting Simdax to the target heart tissue	Showed significant cardioprotective effects in rats with doxorubicin-induced heart failure	[79]
Silica Nanoparticles
Mesoporous silica	Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)	New organ-preserving agent in the field of transplantation	Balb/c mice aged	Limited use due to the cytotoxic effects	Management of Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) which is the leading cause of death in heart transplant patients	[80]
Biodegradable porous silicon	Atrial natriuretic peptide	To treat an injured region of the myocardium in Ischemic heart disease patients	Ischemic Wistar rat model	Less targeting of peptide produced inside the body	Improved colloidal stability and greater cellular interactions with cardiomyocytes and non-myocytes with negligible toxicity	[81]
Polymeric superparamagnetic nano-silica	Quercetin	Antioxidant agent, quercetin is utilized to control atherosclerosis and other relative cardiovascular illnesses	Mice	Poor water solubility	Permitting cell enlistment, attachment, expansion, and articulation of heart proteins in local myocardium	[82]
PEGylated mesoporous silica	Puerarin	Chinese medicine used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases	Male Sprague Dawley rats	Short elimination half-life in humans Intravenous administration of high doses of puerarin is needed Severe and acute side effects.	Improved blood compatibility with low hemolysis, Good candidate for intravascular drug delivery	[83]
Polymeric Nanoparticles
Poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)	Heparin and glutathione	Anticoagulant and antioxidant agent used for vascular therapy	Nil	Systemic toxicity, Systemic coagulopathy and hemorrhage symptoms	Effective delivery to the site of an Ischemia/reperfusion injury	[84]
Dendrimer	Hirudine	Antithrombotic and anticoagulant agent	Antithrombotic effect evaluated in venous thrombosis model of Wistar rats	Short plasma half-life, generates irreversible hirudin thrombin complex	Gene transfer to thrombosis and thrombosis treatment	[85]
Micellar	Hirudine	Natural thrombin inhibitor	ApoE-null mice fed a high-fat diet	Short plasma half-life	Increased delivery of hirudine to the plaques and inhibited the formation of fibrin clots after coronary artery occlusion	[86]
Polymeric micelles	m-Tetra(hydroxyphenyl)chlorin (mTHPC)	Anti-inflammatory agent	Female Balb/c nude mice	Side effects and other off-target effects	Increased stability and thus allow accumulation of intact mTHPC- to macrophages of atherosclerotic lesions	[87]