Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
10.1 Introduction
A critical property of devices applied in the human body is their
compatibility with human tissues. Such “biocompatibility” can
be achieved in a number of ways that depends on the chemical
composition, surface topology, and size. The area of nanomedicine
is taking advantage of strategies for controlling these characteristics
with the aim of improving the function of medical devices and
pharmacological treatments. This has led to the manufacture of
a new range of materials that hold promise to solve at least some
of the problems associated with introducing foreign substances
into the body. This chapter focuses on the aspects of the immune
response to materials with structural features on the nanometer
scale (“nanomaterials”) and with applications in biomedicine.
While biocompatibility depends on the regulation of a number of
physiologic responses other than those supported by the immune
system, it is clear from many studies that the immune system forms
a major barrier to the successful application of nanomaterials in the
body. Indeed, as discussed in detail below, the choice of materials
used for the formation of nanomaterials in combination with the
structural properties of these materials may pose a special challenge
with regard to avoiding an immune response. When such a response
leads to uncontrolled inflammation, serious damage to the body
or death may be the outcome. Low-grade inflammation may also
constitute a health risk when inflammatory nanomaterials are
part of a repeated or frequent exposure. Finally, in cases where the
immune response to nanomaterials itself presents no risk to the
health of exposed individuals, the immune response may inactivate
or clear the nanomaterial from the targeted tissues. This way, the
desired eff ect of the nanomaterial, and hence the medical therapy,
may be curtailed or attenuated.
10.2
Basic Functions of the Immune System
It is beyond the scope of the present chapter to give a detailed
description of the immune system, in particular as the interested
reader easily finds several excellent accounts elsewhere [1, 2]. Below,
selected mechanisms are discussed with the intention to support a
basic understanding of functions of the immune system relevant in
the body's response to nanomaterials.
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