Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Assembly of Polymers/Metal Nanoparticles
and h
eir Applications as Medical Devices
Magdalena Stevanović
Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences
and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia
Abstract
Metallic nanoparticles have attracted much attention and have found applications
in dif erent i elds such as medicine, pharmacy, controlled drug delivery, optics,
electronics, and other areas. Among the most promising nanomaterials with anti-
bacterial and antiviral properties are metallic nanoparticles (silver, gold, platinum,
etc), which exhibit increased chemical activity due to their large surface-to-vol-
ume ratios, crystallographic surface structure and unique size-dependent opti-
cal, electrical and magnetic properties. However, it has been reported that bare
metallic nanoparticles can be toxic. h is supports the concept that this toxicity
is associated with the presence of the bare metallic nanoparticle surface, while
particles protected by an organic layer, i.e., polymer, are much more biocompat-
ible, and thereby less toxic. Unrelated to the bare metallic surface, several recent
studies indicate that, at a cellular level, metal nanoparticles interact with biological
molecules within mammalian cells and can interfere with the antioxidant defense
mechanism, leading to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Increase
of ROS levels may result in signii cant damage to cell structures known as oxida-
tive stress. h is chapter deliberates the metallic nanoparticles with special empha-
sis on obtaining silver nanoparticles, their incorporation within various polymer
materials, physiochemical and biological properties of such obtained systems, as
well as their application as medical devices.
Keywords:
Metallic nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, therapy, medical devices
