Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and degradation [111]. Atherosclerosis is an inl ammatory disease which
is the cause of high morbidity and mortality in the world. Lobatto
et al.
developed a nanomedicinal liposomal formulation to enhance the anti-
inl ammatory action and decrease the adverse ef ects of glucocorticoids
(PLP), and intravenously applied it at a dose of 15 mg/kg PLP to a rabbit
model of atherosclerosis [112]. Zhang
et al.
have reviewed
in vivo
imaging
modalities for detecting lymphatic vessels, lymphatic drainage, and lym-
phatic nodes, which include conventional lymphatic imaging techniques
such as dyes and radionuclide scintigraphy as well as novel techniques for
lymphatic imaging such as optical imaging, computed tomography, mag-
netic resonance imaging, ultrasound, positron emission tomography using
lymphatic biomarkers, photoacoustic imaging, and combinations of mul-
tiple modalities [113]. Tumor hypoxia is associated with the the aggressive-
ness of the tumor; a number of invasive and noninvasive techniques have
been exploited to measure tumor hypoxia, including polarographic needle
electrodes, immunohistochemical staining, radionuclide imaging (posi-
tron emission tomography [PET] and single-photon emission computed
tomography [SPECT]), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical imag-
ing (bioluminescence and l uorescence), etc. [114]. h e nanoscale materi-
als with dimensions of less than 100 nm are signii cantly altered relative
to the corresponding bulk materials. h ey exhibit size-dependent behav-
ior such as quantum size ef ects (depending on bulk Bohr radius), optical
absorption and emission, coulomb staircase behavior (electrical trans-
port), superparamagnetism and various unique properties and are active
components of ferrol uids, recording tape, l exible disk recording media,
along with potential future applications in spintronics. Spintronics is a new
paradigm of electronics utilizing intrinsic charge and spin of electrons for
ultra-high-density data storage and quantum computing. h ey are used
in biomedical applications such as bioseparation of biological entities,
therapeutic drugs and gene delivery, radiofrequency-induced destruction
of cells and tumors (hyperthermia), and contrast-enhancement agents for
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). h e nanoparticles have optimizable,
controllable sizes as compared to cells (10-100 μm), viruses (20-250 nm),
proteins (3-50 nm), and genes (10-100 nm) [115]. Magnetic resonance
spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) is a noninvasive imaging technique that
provides metabolic information on brain tumors [116]. Polymeric micelles
are used in cancer targeting, drug delivery and tumor imaging applica-
tions. Guthi
et al.
have described a multifunctional micelle (MFM) system
that is encoded with a lung cancer-targeting peptide (LCP), and encapsu-
lated with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) and doxorubicin (Doxo)
for MR imaging and therapeutic delivery, respectively, and suggested that
