Oral administration of nutrient/drug is the most common and preferred route. However, a number of barriers are encountered after ingestion, limiting efficient oral nutrient/drug absorption. Both lipid-based (e.g., nanoemulsion, solid lipid nanoparticles) and polymer-based (e.g., protein and polysaccharide nanoparticles) nanoscale delivery systems have demonstrated capability to overcome some of these physiological barriers during transportation and metabolism stages. To better deal with those barriers, polymer-lipid complex nanoparticles are being explored and developed to merge the beneficial features and overcome the respective shortcomings of lipid-based and polymer-based nanoparticles. This paper aims to provide an overview of the various preparation strategies and supramolecular interactions of orally administered polymer-lipid complex nanoparticles by reviewing recent studies. Two types of polymer-lipid complex nanoparticles have been developed, i.e., lipid core with polymer shell nanoparticles and polymer core with lipid shell nanoparticles (lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles). Besides, both natural and synthetic polymers used for fabrication are discussed and their advantages and disadvantages are highlighted. Further research work is needed to optimize the fabrication and scaling up processes, so that these versatile polymer-lipid complex nanoparticles could have a significant impact on the oral delivery of nutrient/drug.
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