Nanomedicine: Therapeutic Applications and Limitations

Nanomedicine: Therapeutic Applications and Limitations

Roy Gaurab (National Center for Cell Science (NCCS) – Pune, India), Shetti Dattatrya (National Center for Cell Science (NCCS) – Pune, India), Yadav Amit (National Center for Cell Science (NCCS) – Pune, India) and Kundu Gopal C (National Center for Cell Science (NCCS) – Pune, India)
Copyright: © 2017 |Pages: 28
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1762-7.ch048

Abstract

Nanomedicine, an offshoot of nanotechnology, is considered as one of the most promising technologies of the 21st century. Due to their minute size, nanomedicines can easily target difficult-to-reach sites with improved solubility and bioavailability and reduced adverse effects. They also act as versatile delivery systems, carrying both chemotherapeutics and imaging agents to targeted sites. Hence, nanomedicine can be used to achieve the same therapeutic effect at smaller doses than their conventional counterparts and can offer impressive resolutions for various life-threatening diseases. Although certain issues have been raised about the potential toxicities of nanomaterials, it is anticipated that the advances in nanomedicine will furnish clarifications to many of modern medicine's unsolved problems. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive and contemporary survey of various nanomedicine products along with the major risks and side effects associated with the nanoparticles.
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Nanostructures In Medicine

Nanoparticles are materials with overall dimensions in the nanoscale i.e., under 100 nm and offers exiting prospects for the development of novel, clinically pertinent diagnostic and therapeutic multifunctional systems. In recent years, these materials have emerged as imperative players in contemporary medicine, with clinical applications extending from carriers for drug and gene delivery into tumor to contrast agents in imaging (see Figure 1). Indeed, there are few instances where nanoparticles facilitate analyses and remedies that merely cannot be implemented otherwise. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the major categories of nanoparticles employed in modern medicine and their uses.

Figure 1.

Types of nanoparticles and their biomedical applications

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