Graphene oxide has been used in different fields of nanomedicine as a manager of drug delivery due to its inherent physical and chemical properties that allow its use in thin films with biomedical applications. Several studies demonstrated its efficacy in the control of the amount and the timely delivery of drugs when it is incorporated in multilayer films. It has been demonstrated that oxide graphene layers are able to work as drug delivery or just to delay consecutive drug dosage, allowing the operation of time-controlled systems. This review presents the latest research developments of biomedical applications using graphene oxide as the main component of a drug delivery system, with focus on the production and characterization of films, in vitro and in vivo assays, main applications of graphene oxide biomedical devices, and its biocompatibility properties.
Keywords: drug delivery; graphene oxide; layer-by-layer; polyelectrolyte multilayer films.