Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
af ected and the pore size of about 1 nm freely allowed for the oxygen to
dif use out.
Nanomedicines of er advantages over old medicines, including an ef ec-
tive targeting of specii c sites, enhanced solubility, bioavailability, and
minimized adverse ef ects. Nanocarriers used in drug delivery, nanosus-
pensions for enhanced drug solubility, and nanoparticles for bioimaging
are the main sources of nanomedicines. However, the inherent proper-
ties of nanoparticles such as their size, shape, agglomeration/aggrega-
tion nature, and surface chemistry adversely af ect the safety and quality
of nanomedicines. As we know, there are no consistent regulatory guide-
lines established so far because of our limitations pertaining to inadequate
knowledge about the systematic behavior of nanoparticles, their standard-
ized nomenclature, test methods, well-dei ned characterization of prod-
ucts, lack of skilled personnel and safety protocol, and inef ective control
of good manufacturing practice for nanomedicines. h us, the urgent need
for a regulatory framework for controlling the manufacturing processes,
product quality, and safety of nanomedicines is immense. Colloidal sil-
ver is widely used in antimicrobial formulations and dressings. h e high
reactivity of titania nanoparticles, either on their own or when illuminated
with UV light, is also used for bactericidal purposes in i lters. Enhanced
catalytic properties of surfaces of nanoceramics or those of noble metals
like platinum are used to destroy dangerous toxins and other hazardous
organic materials.
6.2 NanoparticleCoatings
Song
et al.
have developed a new class of plasmonic vesicular nanostructures
assembled from amphiphilic gold nanocrystals with mixed polymer brush
coatings. h e multifunctional vesicles containing stimuli-responsive poly-
mers could enable their broader applications in biosensing, multimodality
imaging, and theragnostic nanomedicine [24]. Metal-based glyconanopar-
ticles (GNPs) are biofunctional nanomaterials with good water solubility,
biocompatibility and stability to targeting properties, which opens up the
possibility to employ metallic GNPs in diagnostics and/or therapy. h ere
are major concerns regarding nanotoxicity, and it is expected that the sugar
shell of GNPs will lower the intrinsic toxicity of metal nanoclusters better
than other non-natural coatings [25]. h e reported increasing use of zinc
oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) in coatings, paints, and personal care prod-
ucts raises the body's exposure to them. Accurate and quantitative proi l-
ing on the tissue distribution and body clearance of ZnONPs is needed
