Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the lungs or other organs via food, drink, and medicine and af ect dif er-
ent organs and tissues such as the brain, liver, kidney, heart, colon, spleen,
bone, blood, etc., and may cause toxicity and various diseases in humans
and animals. Nanomaterials interactions with biological systems depend
upon their properties, such as size, concentration, solubility, chemical and
biological properties, and stability [195]. Nanotechnologies enable diag-
nosis at the single-cell and molecule levels, and the use of biochips and
nanobiosensors are promising for potential clinical applications in the
areas of biomarker discovery, cancer diagnosis, and detection of infectious
microorganisms [196]. Inorganic nanoparticles, such as carbon nanotubes,
quantum dots and gold nanoshells, have been adopted for biomedical use,
due to their unique optical and physical properties. Compared to conven-
tional materials, inorganic nanomaterials have several advantages such as
simple preparative processes and precise control over their shape, com-
position and size. In addition, inorganic porous nanomaterials are funda-
mentally advantageous for developing multifunctional nanomaterials, due
to their distinctive inner and outer surfaces.
In this review, we described recent developments of hollow and porous
inorganic nanomaterials in nanomedicine, especially for imaging/diag-
nosis and photothermal therapy [197]. Bioconjugated nanoparticles and
quantum dots are among the most exciting nanomaterials with promising
application potentials in nanomedicine i eld. h ese applications include
biosensing, bioimaging, bioassay, targeted drug delivery and new thera-
peutic agents or method development. Although most of these applica-
tions are based on the optical properties of nanoparticle materials such as
surface plasmon resonance, surface enhanced Raman scattering and strong
photoluminescence, other aspects of nanoparticles, such as the catalytic
ef ect and amplii cation ef ect associated with the nanoscale dimension,
have also been explored [198].
6.12 Nanoimaging
Imaging techniques, including nanoimaging, molecular imaging, and
medical imaging, provide ways of knowing structure and function in biol-
ogy at dif erent scales, and are widely used in nanomedicine, regenerative
medicine, and nuclear medicine. Structural misfolding and aggregation of
a particular protein are the main causes of numerous neurodegenerative
disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's diseases. h ey
are coni rmed by X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, elec-
tron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy.
