Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
NMs can be detected at very low concentrations, the sensitivity of nanobiosen-
sors is expected to be in the low picogram and down to the femtogram levels. 272
As such, especially with QDs that may allow single molecule detection, nano-
biosensors hold promise for early disease detection that can provide valuable
insights into the medical biology at the atomic level. 15,47,137,172,176,258,282-284
NMs exhibit unique size-tunable as well as shape-dependent physicochemical
properties that do not resemble those of bulk materials. 207,282,285,286 Recent advances
in NMs open new avenues to develop various novel biosensors. 2,209,210 These
NMs-based nanobiosensors, make use of electrochemical and optical properties
of NMs to demonstrate improved limit of detection, sensitivity, ease of use, por-
tability, low cost, portability, and selectivity. 47,50,88,113,156,193,208,237,243,244,249,287,288
The small dimensions of NMs that are comparable to the dimensions of biomo-
lecular probes and to biological analytes make them excellent components of
biosensors that are candidates from miniaturization.
Nanobiosensors for detection of various biomolecules that are useful in
the clinical diagnosis of different types of diseases are discussed in Chapter 4.
These diseases may be genetic, metabolic, or caused by infectious disease caus-
ing agents. Various types of NMs based nanobiosensors will be presented and a
few protocols will be discussed.
The development of NMs has revolutionized the technologies for disease
diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. It has been envisioned that the new nano-
technological innovations have the potential to provide extensive benefit for
patients. Nanoparticles can mimic and alter biological processes owing to their
size that is comparable to the size of biomolecules. Thus, to date, various NMs
are being developed for targeted drug delivery.
9.6 NM s FOR DRUG DELIVERY
Over the past few years, NMs have been studied as drug delivery systems called
NMs drug carriers or simply nanocarriers. 406,447 Enormous focus is being directed
toward developing nanoparticles for drug delivery for controlling the release of
drugs, stabilizing labile molecules (e.g. proteins, peptides, or DNA) from deg-
radation, and site-specific drug targeting. 6,53,88,89,95,98,99,101,103,104,137,169,289-306 . In
the late 1969s and early 1979s, the literature experienced the advent of polyacryl-
amide micelle polymerization along with other polymers that are now compo-
nents of nano-enabled drugs that are sold in the market. 66,90,94,100,289,307-311 This
generation of nano-enabled drugs is mainly dependent on the small size of the
particles to increase the surface area to enhance the bioavailability of poorly sol-
uble drugs and to improve the structure of the particles for delayed release. In the
USA, the commercial nano-enabled drugs include Rapamune ® /Pfizer, Emend ® /
Merck, INVEGA ® SUSTENNA ® /Janssen, all based on Elan's NanoCrystal ®
technology; Abraxane ® /Abraxis Bioscience and Triglide™/Sciele Pharma. 312
The NMs in these drugs introduced improved functionalities that are useful for
diagnosis, targeting, drug delivery, and enhanced transport and uptake properties.
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