Nutrient delivery (NDS)

Nutrient delivery is a fundamental biological process involving the systemic and cellular transport of vital substances such as carbohydrates, amino acids, and lipids to sustain energy production and physiological function [4, 5]. While essential for health, "Nutrient delivery" is a broad functional category and physiological mechanism rather than a specific molecular target like a single protein or receptor [2, 16]. In medical science, it often refers to "Nutrient Delivery Systems" (NDS) that utilize nanotechnology—such as liposomes or nanomicelles—to optimize the delivery of bioactive compounds to specific tissues for metabolic reactivation or deprivation [12, 14, 15]. Pathological states such as cancer often exploit these mechanisms, upregulating transporters like GLUT1 or LAT1 to meet high metabolic demands, while metabolic disorders arise from the dysregulation of these delivery pathways [8, 10, 18]. Because it encompasses a wide range of proteins, including solute carriers and nutrient-sensing receptors, it is not classified as a discrete therapeutic target in drug discovery but serves as a conceptual framework for metabolic and delivery-based therapies [1, 4, 17].

Other names

Nutrient transportMetabolite deliveryTargeted nutrient deliveryTrophic supportNutrient supply

Nutrient delivery systems (NDS) facilitate the transport of bioactive metabolites across biological membranes via specialized transporters (e.g., SLC family), receptor-mediated endocytosis, or extracellular vesicles, often employing nanocarriers like liposomes and micelles to enhance bioavailability or tissue specificity [2, 4, 5, 12, 18]. Drugs targeting this process typically inhibit specific transporters to alter metabolic flux or utilize delivery vehicles to bypass physiological barriers like the blood-brain barrier [8, 14, 15].