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Review
. 2025 Jul 25:13:1622566.
doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1622566. eCollection 2025.

Application of nano and microformulations to improve the leishmanicidal response of quinoline compounds: a brief review

Angel H Romero  1 , Karina N Gonzalez  2   3 , Marcos A Sabino  4
Affiliations
Review

Application of nano and microformulations to improve the leishmanicidal response of quinoline compounds: a brief review

Angel H Romero et al. Front Chem. .

Abstract

The quinolines represent an important scaffold for the development of leishmanicidal agents. In particular, the use of nano and microformulations has emerged as a powerful tool to improve the therapeutic profile of leishmanicidal drugs, favoring bioavailability, transportation to key targets, metabolic protection, and immunostimulating responses. This mini-review seeks to provide a general perspective about the use of nano/microencapsulation for the development of leishmanicidal formulations based on quinoline, giving an overview of the various cases of encapsulation, analyzing the repercussions of the type of polymeric matrix (synthetic or natural polymer), type of formulation (polymeric or metallic nanoparticles, micelles, liposomes, etc.), drug loading percentage, and release rate of quinoline drug.

Keywords: DDS; amastigote; leishmania; leishmanicidal agent; nanoparticles; quinoline drugs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
(A) Main type of nanosystems; (B) structure of synthetic (PIHCA, PLA, PEG, and PLGA), surfactant (poloxamer 407), and natural (chitosan, cellulose, and BSA) biopolymers for nanoencapsulation of leishmanicidal quinolines 1–8; and (C) structure of leishmanicidal quinolines used for DDS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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