International Journal of Applied Science and Technology
Vol. 5, No. 1; February 2015
The New Field of the Nanomedicine
Solano-Umaña, Victor
Environmental Management Master Degree
Senior Chemist Hologic Surgical Products
Science PhD student DOCINADE
Costa Rica
Vega-Baudrit, José Roberto
González-Paz, Rodolfo
PhD, National Nanotechnology Laboratory (LANOTEC-CeNAT-CONARE)
San José, Costa Rica
Abstract
The nanoscience and nanotechnology nowadays are present in many areas of our life, and they will have much
impact on the fields of medicine and health care. The world of medicine is very complex, so all of the benefits
from nanoscience and nanotechnology to medicine will take time to become evident; however, other benefits will
come immediately. The tools of research and medical practice will be less expensive and more powerful. The
research and development of new devices as well as the diagnostics will become, more effective, enabling faster
response and the ability to treat new diseases. Small sensors, drugs, disease labels and indicators, computers,
implantable devices, diagnostic equipment will continuously monitor health, at low cost, and automatic
processing will be possible. Many new types of treatment can be addressed, while the medicine cost will go down,
treating diseases more safely, and the benefits will be experienced by many more people around the world.
Keywords: nanoscience, nanotechnology, nanomedicine, nanotoxicology
Introduction
The emergence of nanoscience and nanotechnology in the health sciences has led to a new discipline called
nanomedicine, whose main objective is to develop new tools and diagnostic research to prevent and treat diseases.
Nanotechnology is considered an emerging technology due to the possibility to advance well established products
and to create new products with totally new characteristics and functions having enormous potential in a wide
range of applications. In addition to various industrial uses, great innovations are foreseen in information and
communication technology, biology and biotechnology, medicine and medical technology [1]. Nanomedicine is a
research area with potential to shape, direct, and change the future of medical treatments in a revolutionary
manner over the next decades. While the common goal with other fields of biomedicine is to solve medical
problems, this area embraces an increasing number of technology platforms as they become miniaturized [2].
Nanomedicine studies nanoscale interactions and it uses devices, systems, and technologies that include
nanostructures that can interact at molecular, micro, or cellular level. One of the major challenges in this process
is the research and development of "nanotherapies", specifically targeting of diseased tissues and organs, this
method can prevent surrounding damage to healthy cells and therefore avoiding the dreaded side effects of current
treatments. Nanomedicine promises to solve some of these major challenges by the ability of early detection of
disease (such as cancer) or the ability to regenerate organs and tissues that are damaged. Nanomedicine includes
three main areas: nanodiagnosis, controlled drug release (nanotherapy) and regenerative medicine. Nanodiagnosis
is the development of systems and image analysis to detect a disease or cellular malfunction. The Nanotherapy
purports to address active nanosystems containing recognition elements to act or transport and release drugs
exclusively in cells or affected areas in order to achieve a more effective treatment while minimizing side effects.
Regenerative medicine aims to repair or replace damaged tissues and organs using nanotechnology tools.
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The field of nanomedicine is the science and technology of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease and
traumatic injury, of relieving pain, and of preserving and improving human health, using molecular tools and
molecular knowledge of the human body. The application of nanotechnology to medicine raises new issues
because if new uses are allowed, it can contribute to the development of a personalized medicine both for
diagnosis and therapy [3].
Nanomedicine
Many diseases originate from alterations in biologic processes at molecular or nanoscale level. Mutated genes,
misfielded proteins, and infections caused by viruses or bacteria can lead to cell malfunction or
miscommunication, sometimes leading to life threatening diseases. These molecules and infectious agents are
nanometers in size and might be located in biological systems that are protected by nanometer-size barriers.
Nanotechnology is defined as the intentional design, characterization, production and application of materials,
structures, devices, and systems by controlling their size and shape in the nanoscale range. Because nanomaterials
are similar in scale to biological molecules and systems, yet can be engineered to have various functions,
nanotechnology is potentially useful for medical applications. The field of nanomedicine aims to use the
properties and physical characteristics of nanomaterials for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases at the
molecular level [4].
Nanomedicine is the branch of nanotechnology and nanoscience that would allow the ability to cure disease from
inside the body and at the cellular or molecular level; it is one of the most promising fields within the potential
new technological advances in medicine. This technology is revolutionizing medical areas such as monitoring,
tissue repair, diseases evolution control, protection and improvement of human biological systems, diagnosis,
treatment and prevention, pain relief, health prevention, delivery of drugs to cells, etc., these subjects positioning
it as a revolution in the medical scientific and healthcare fields. Nanodiagnostics based on molecular detectors,
biosensors, fluorescent nanoparticles, nanopore sequencers of individual genomes, nanoparticles as containers for
drugs and vaccines, nanoparticles drugs, synthetic genomes as self-reproducing systems, organs and tissue repair
nanomaterials, nanorobots that find pathological lesions in tissue and correct them, devices that mimic functions
of various cells, etc. All are certain achievements of nanotechnology applications in medicine [5]. Among the
most significant scientific advances are biosensors, new ways to deliver drugs more direct, effective treatments
and new implant materials. Nanotechnology is of great use for medical diagnosis and various nanoparticles that
have exhibited tremendous potential for detecting disease markers, pre-cancerous cells, fragment of viruses,
specific proteins, antibodies and other indicators of a specific disease [6]. It is an emerging branch of science for
designing tools and devices of nanoscale size with specific function at the cellular, atomic and molecular levels.
The concept of employing nanotechnology in biomedical research and clinical practice is best known as
nanomedicine. This is an upcoming field that could potentially make a major impact to human health.
Nanomaterials are increasingly used in diagnostics, imaging and targeted drug delivery. Nanotechnology will
assist the integration of diagnostics/imaging with therapeutics and facilitates the development of personalized
medicine, prescription of specific medications best suited for an individual treatment [7].
The aim of nanomedicine may be broadly defined as the comprehensive monitoring, control, construction, repair,
defense and improvement of all human biological systems, working from the molecular level, using engineered
devices and nanostructures, ultimately to achieve medical benefits. In this context, nanoscale should be taken to
include active components or objects in the size range from one nanometer to hundreds of nanometers. These may
be included in a micro device (that has a macrointerface) or in a biological environment. The focus, however, is
always on nanointeractions within the framework of a larger device or directly within a sub cellular (or cellular)
system [8].
Humans have always tried to improve their health condition and lifestyle. Nowadays, there are numerous drugs
and medical technologies that can treat conditions that only a few decades ago were deadly, like:
Nanoparticles that kill cancer cells.
Nanoparticles for help regenerate bones.
Fluorescent nanoprobe.
ID Tumors noninvasively.
Implants that minimized the risk of adverse events.
Ultrasound to penetrate bone.
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Nanoparticles to monitor cancer and other diseases.
Targeted cancer therapy.
Imaging ID's receptors.
Technology to improve lung cancer detection.
Imaging tricks to observe Alzheimer’s development.
New methods to treat tumors with antennas.
Genomics and truly personalized medicine.
Body sensors.
Medical recorders and portable diagnostics, etc.
Medical advancements have not just been limited to treatment of diseases. Reconstruction of injured body parts is
now possible through innovative biomaterial and implants, and tissue engineering is opening the possibility to
recreate organs from cultures of stem cells. Nanotechnologies are already playing an important part in modern
medical diagnosis and treatment technologies, and are opening new venues for future developments [9].
Applications of nanotechnology to medicine are already underway and offer tremendous promise; these
applications often go under the moniker of nanomedicine or, more generally, bionanotechnology. Two areas in
which the impacts of nanomedicine are likely to be most significant are: first, diagnostic and medical records and
second, treatment, including surgery and drug delivery [10].
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology have an enormous potential, and a bright future with multiple applications in
many areas like engineering, optics, energy, consumer products, nanomedicine (superior diagnostic, therapeutic
and preventive measures).Nanomedicine is already a reality that is producing advances in diagnosis, prevention
and treatment of diseases because, among other reasons, to interact with the biomolecules (proteins and nucleic
acids). In addition, this capability will enable a better understanding of the complex regulatory and signaling
pathways that direct the behavior of normal and transformed cells. Cells within tissue derive mechanical
anchorage and specific molecular signals from the insoluble extracellular matrix that surrounds them.
Understanding the role of different cues that extracellular matrices provide is critical for controlling and
predicting called responses to scaffolding materials, these complex systems present multiple kinds of cues
including mechanical and topographic features, and multiple adhesive ligands on the same molecule [11]. Hence
understanding these cues are important to design new medical applications, and to understand cellular behavior
not only for tissue engineering or implants.
Certain fields are particularly interested in nanotechnology, especially:
Monitoring (images).
Tissue repair.
Evolution control of diseases.
Protection.
Improvement of human biological systems.
Diagnosis.
Treatment.
Prevention.
Applying drugs directly to the cells.
With the use of nanotechnology, scientists hope to prevent illnesses; more quickly diagnose with fewer side
effects, and create better medical aids, such as more compatible prosthetics. Nanoparticles and surfaces made of
nanostructures are used in many areas of healthcare research [12]. Nanoparticles have shown promising
applications from diagnosis to treatment of various types of diseases, including cancer. The applications of
nanostructured materials such as nanoparticles, quantum dots, nanorods, nanowires, and carbon nanotubes in
diagnostics, biomarkers, cell labeling, contrast agents for biological imaging, antimicrobial agents, drug delivery
systems, and anticancer nanodrugs for treatment of cancer and other infectious diseases are growing [13].
Nanotechnology has had tremendous impact on medical science and has resulted in phenomenal progress in the
field of drug delivery and diagnostics. A wide spectrum of novel nanomaterials including polymeric particles,
liposomes, quantum dots, and iron oxide particles, have been developed for applications in therapeutic delivery
and diagnostics.
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This has resulted in control over the rate and period of delivery and targeting of drugs to specific organs in human
body. The size, choice of polymer, surface chemistry, shape and mechanical properties of the particles are
parameters that critically affect particle function. Numerous biomaterials and fabrication techniques have been
developed in the last decade that focus on novel design parameters, such as shape and mechanical properties and
the interplay of these parameters with size and surface chemistry of particles. Recent advances with particular
focus on the importance of particle shape are highlighted, and the challenges that are yet to be fulfilled are
underscored [14]. Although considerable advances have already been made in understanding how the physical
properties of materials affect biological functions, the field is still in its infancy. At present, it is clear that
physical properties, such as size, shape, mechanical properties, surface texture and compartmentalization,
profoundly impact the function of a biomaterial, once it is placed into a biological environment. Many other
physical parameters including density and porosity will also significantly impact a material's function. This
greatly widens the design parameter space for the next generation of biomaterials but, at the same time, raises
important questions. Substantial work remains to map the dependence of biological response to physical
properties and to categorize the relative weight of different physical and chemical factors. For each biomedical
application, detailed mechanisms of how physical properties affect biological performance, as well as the
interplay among various physicochemical properties, may have to be elucidated case by case [15].
Drug Delivery
Nanoparticles drug delivery systems seem to be a viable and promising strategy for the pharmaceutical industry.
They have advantages over conventional drug delivery systems. They can increase the bioavailability, solubility
and permeability of many potent drugs which are otherwise difficult to deliver orally. Nanoparticles drug delivery
systems will also reduce the drug dosage, frequency and it will potentially increase the patient compliance. In near
future, nanoparticles drug delivery systems can be used for exploring many biological drugs which have poor
aqueous solubility, permeability and less bioavailability. Nanoparticles can minimize some of these drugs
uncommon problems by safeguarding stability and preserving their structure. In addition, nanoparticles provide
ingenious treatment by enabling target delivery and controlled release [16].
To successfully integrate a drug into a nanoparticle, several design strategies can be explored, including physical
complexion with hydrophobic drugs, or covalent bonding with cleavable linkages for intracellular release. Drugs
loaded through hydrophobic interactions are typically encapsulated within the nanoparticle coating, limiting
nonspecific cell interaction. This approach is advantageous in applications where a drug being delivery and could
seriously harm non targeted tissue [17]. Process in understanding the nanoparticle internalization by a variety of
mammalian cells has already allowed the design of effective nanomedicines, especially for the treatment of
infectious diseases and some cancers [18].
Drug delivery strategies are a growing area of research. Rather than focusing on finding new molecular targets
and pathways in autoimmune diseases, drug delivery strategy can provide the tissue selectivity with current
therapies by altering their pharmacokinetics and biodistribution. Nanocarries have been demonstrated to have
potential in improving the safety profile and therapeutic efficiency of the current therapies for autoimmune
diseases, particularly for those with potent but toxic compounds [19]. Inorganic nanomedicine holds great
promise in diagnostics, drug and gene delivery, sensing and biosensing, and in vivo imaging under the present
scenario. Smartly engineered inorganic nanoparticles can boost drug efficacy and can improve drug targeting to
specific areas in the body, therefore making treatment less toxic and less invasive [20].
Medical Devices
With the amazing advances in the preparation and characterization techniques of nanotechnology products, the
possibility of manufacturing devices capable of establishing and intimate interaction with the biological world has
been opened. This fact represents a precise control over the processes of therapeutic substances release, and
means an opportunity to improve the specificity of the therapeutic action, as well as to reconsider some of the
drugs for certain diseases that were once discarded because of their low levels of tolerance [21]. Dendrimers are a
novel class of nanoscale carriers that can be multifunctional used for medical applications like targeting, imaging
and treatment. These molecules have internal cavities used to encapsulate hydrophilic or hydrophobic drugs to
control the release rate, or the imaging and targeting properties of these drugs. The molecule could be
functionalized with various drugs, ligaments or fluorescence tags [22].
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The tailorable dendrimer surface chemistry and various bioconjugation techniques allow one to design various
complex dendrimer medical devices for different medical applications. These molecules are recognized as
powerful nanoplatforms for biological nanotechnologies on medical treatments, diagnostics, monitoring and
control of biological systems [23]. Nonomedicines aim to deliver drugs and imaging agents more efficiently and
more specifically to pathological sites. A significant amount of evidence has been obtained over the years
exemplifying the superiority of nanomedicine formulations over free drugs, both at pre-clinical and at clinical
level. The submicrometer sized carrier materials are designed to modulate the pharmacokinetics and the
biodistribution of conjugated or entrapped chemo – therapeutic drugs [24]. All of these developments and
advances at the moment are used in the development of medical devices or microdevices. Microdevices are those
that are fabricated with the aid of technologies such microfabrication, surface pattering, and microfluidics, and are
often integrated with cell and tissue cultures. Advances in methods of microdevice fabrication and application
could address changes faced in nanomedicine. Microdevices are generally economical, reproducible, and readily
amenable to modification and redesign [25].
Implants and Tissue Engineering
With the increase of the world’s population, the demand for medical-implants, tissue-repair or organ-replacement
increase too. Current medical alternatives to these areas offer tremendous opportunities because they cannot
satisfy the required patient quality. For this reason, today, there has been an exponential increase in studies using
nanotechnology for tissue engineering applications, organs, and implants.Nanotechnology, or the use of
nanomaterials, may have the answer, since only these materials can mimic the surface properties (including
topography, energy, etc.) of natural tissues.Currently, one promising and widely investigated approach to the
design of biomimetic materials-capable of eliciting specific cellular responses and directing new tissue formation
by bimolecular recognition of the materials by the cell, is achieved by incorporating cell binding peptides in the
form of a native long chain extracellular matrix via chemical or physical modification [26]. Over the last decade,
nanomaterials have been highlighted as promising candidates for improving traditional tissue engineering
materials [27].A rapidly evolving discipline, vascular tissue engineering provides a novel technology to produce
tissue engineering vascular grafts which incorporate into host blood vessels and potentially solve the problems
associated with conventional vascular grafts. As our understanding of the mechanisms underlying graft
remodeling expands, the application of nanomedicine continues to hold great promise in the design of next
generation of Vascular Tissue Engineering grafts [28]. Biomedical application has been a primary driver in
establishing the science of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers. Tissue engineering has attracted a great
deal of attention, because of its potential as a new method in the treatment of damaged or lost human tissue and
organs. In tissue engineering, scaffolds play an important role by serving as substrates for bone regeneration, cell
attachment, and physical supports for the formation of new tissues [29].
The new advances in nanomedicine have created novel materials for use in chemistry and biology. Today we can
simulate the nanometer dimensions of biological components of our body, and this new development direction
will be give us more effective implants, scaffolds, tissues and organs. Ground-breaking advances in nanomedicine
(defined as the application of nanotechnology in medicine) have proposed novel therapeutics, which can
potentially revolutionize current medical practice [30]. Artificial organs are an example of a medical nanodevice,
an artificial kidney is a membrane device, mainly dialyzer, which is capable of cleaning the blood of patient with
chronic kidney diseases. Likewise, a blood oxygenator is used outside the body during surgery for oxygen
transfer to, and carbon dioxide removal from the blood. The bioartificial liver is a bioreactor which performs the
liver functions of patients in liver failure, by using liver cells [31].
Diagnostic
Nanodiagnostics will improve the sensivity and integration of analytical methods to yield a more coherent
evaluation of life processes. An important benefit would be extension of present limits of molecular disgnostics.
Nanoparticles are the most versatile material for developing diagnostics. Nanotechnologies enable the diagnosis at
single cell and molecule-level, and some of these can be incorporated in the current molecular diagnostics such as
biochips. Nanoparticles, such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots, are the most widely used, but various other
nanotechnologies for manipulation at nanoscale as well as nanobiosensors are reviewed. These technologies will
extend the limits of current molecular diagnostics and enable point-of-care diagnosis as well as the development
of personalized medicine [32].
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This will have applications in genomic analysis, proteomics, and molecular diagnostics. Nanotechnology has
potential advantages in aplications in point-of-care diagnosis, like at the patients, bedside, self diagnostics for use
in the home, and for field use of sensors. Novel methods to manage the symptoms of cancer that adversely impact
quality of life and research tools that will enable rapid identification, as well as validation of new targets for
clinical development and prediction of drugs resistance. Some nanotechnologies with potential application in
molecular diagnostics are Nanochip, Nano-arrays, Nanoparticles (Gold NP), NanoBarcodes, Quantum dot,
Nanowires, Nanopores, DNA nanomachines, Nanosensors, Resonance light sacttering, etc [33].
Detecting or intervening in biomolecular processes for medical diagnostics, drug delivery, and bacterial
inactivation requieres a functional probe which interfaces not only the targeted biomolecules but also provedes an
external stimulus. Metal nanoparticles serve as such functional probes. Key challenge is the ability to tailor the
size, composition, surface and magnetic properties for a controllable biomolecular recognition, biocompatibility,
toxicity, transduction, and intervention. Gold or Silver base nanoparticles enable effective biomolecular
recognition, biocompatibility and transduction, which, upon introducing a magnetic component as the core,
impact intervention capability and reduced toxicity [34].
Together, these insights indicate the noninvasive in vivo imaging can contribute substantially to realizing the
potential of tumor targeted and personalized nanomedicine, not only by preselecting patients in early phase
clinical trials, but also by allowing for individualized and optimized chemotherapeutic interventions once given
nanomedicine formulation has been approved for clinical use. Consequently, incorporating both drugs and
imagine, agents within a single nanomedicine formulation, and using the information that can be obtained with
theranostics formulations to predict how well individual patients will respond to a particular tumor targeted
intervention, seems to be one of the most important and one of the most promising paths toward personalize
nanomedicine [35].
Cancer Treatment
Once cancer has been diagnosed, treating the disease mostly relies on surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy,
separately or in combination. Nanotechnology represents a great hope to improve cancer treatments by acting at
least at two main levels: conferring new properties to a pharmaceutical agent (increased stability, modified
pharmacokinetics, decrease toxicity) and targeting the agen directly to the tumor [36]. Nanomedicine techniques
are conceptually for cancer treatments, which involve acute doses of potent drug where overall exposure is a
balance of inherent drug toxicity against short administration timescales. Anticancer chemotherapies attempt to
target directly to tumors by controlling nanoparticles size to allow diffusion through leaky tumor vasculature but
prevent delivery through normal tight blood vessels into healthy tissue. Highly potent and highly toxic drugs may
therefore be preferentially conveyed to the site of action, minimising non specific damage and mitigating toxicity
[37].
The immune system has ability to recognize and kill pre-cancer cells and cancer cells, however, despite the
immune system, surviving tumor cells learn how to escape the immune system after immunoselection. Cancer
immunotherapy develops strategies to overcome these problems, Nanomedicine applications in cancer
immunotherapy include the nonodiagnostics and Nanobiopharmaceuticals [38].
Even though our knowledge of cancer disease, it has increased, it is still a major health issue around the world,
and it continue killing people. With the recent reseach results, gold nanoparticles are a promising candidates for
detetion, drug delivery, and therapeutic treatment for cancer. This metal is suitable for use in biological systems
based on its nanoscale properties. Gold nanocages represent a new class of ideal nanomaterials for a variety of
aplications in nanomedicine due to their unique properties and multifunctional nature. Great progress has been
made in this field in recent years like:
Optical tracers
Contrast agents for various imaging
Diagnostic modalities
Kill cancer cells through the photothermal effect
Load and release drugs in controlled manner [39].
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Nanotoxicology and Nanomedicine
Nanomedicine refers to highly specific medical interventions at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing
damage tissue, nanomedicine is define as the monitoring, repair, construction, and control of human biological
system at the cellular, molecular, and atomic levels using engineered nanodevices and nanostructures [40]. It can
be subdivided in to five fields by the European Science Foundation (ESF):
Analytical tools,
Nanoimaging,
Nanomaterials
Nanodevices
Novel therapeutics and drugs delivery systems
Clinical
Regulatory and toxicological issues.
Nanomaterials have the potential to revolutionize medicine because of their ability to affect organs and tissue at
molecular and cellular levels. Current research is focused on the medical applications of nanotechnology, whereas
side effects associated with their use, especially the environmental impacts of their manufacture and disposal, are
generally not taken in to consideration during the engineering process. Incorporating environmental concerns into
nanomaterial engineering and nanomedicine development is important, but it greatly increases decision
complexity [41].
The basic procedures and rules for oversight of United States human subject research have been in place since
1981. Certain types of human subject research, however, have provoked creation of additional mechanisms and
rules beyond the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) Common Rule and Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) equivalent. Now another emerging domain of human subject research nanomedicine is
prompting call for extra oversight. However, in 30 years of overseeing research on human beings, we have yet to
specify what makes a domain of scientific research warrant extra oversight. This failure to systematically evaluate
the need for extra measures, the type of extra measures appropriate for different challenges, and the usefulness of
those measures, hampers efforts to respond appropriately to an emerging science such as nanomedicine [42].
Development of specific in vitro assays that can be validated for nanomaterials is to be applauded, but the
establishment of meaningful, high-throughput screening-especially in the context of safe evaluation that can be
optimal for all nanomaterials. For each nanomedicine, it is essential to choose a specific portfolio of test and
assays, the used of which must be carefully optimized, for example using time frames that are relevant to material
pharmacokinetics, using the cell lines to which the material will most likely be exposed, and using analytical
techniques only where it is known that the analyte does not interfere with the assay. All nanomedicines must
display an acceptable risk benefit with respect to proposed use, and early safety studies should be used as a stop –
go checkpoint to decide whether or not the technology has promise for further development toward clinical trials
in the context of the proposed usage [43].
The nascent field of nanomedicine has evoked enormous interest among physical and biological scientists and has
already attracted hundreds of millions of dollars of research funding. The great appeal of nanomedicine lies in its
promise of using the unique properties of nanoscale materials to address some of the most challenging problems
of medical diagnosis and therapy. While some questions have been raised about the possible toxicity of
nanomaterials, and about the ethical implications of applying these advanced technology, the most part
nanomedicine has enjoyed enthusiasm [44]. Recent technological advances in nanomedicine and nanotechnology
in parallel with knowledge accumulated from the clinical translation of disease and drug related genomic data
have created fertile ground for personalized medicine to emerge as the new direction in diagnosis and drug
therapy [45]. Although the expectations from nanotechnlogy in medicine are high and the potential benefits are
endlessly enlisted, the safety of nanomedicine is not yet fully defined. Use of nanotechnology in medical
therapeutics needs adequate evaluation of its risk and safety factors. However, it is possible that nanomedicine in
future would play a crucial role in treatment of human diseases and also in enhancement of normal human
physiology. With concurrent application of nanotechnology in other fields, its utility is likely to extend further
into diagnostics, molecular research techniques and tools [46].
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Conclusion
The nanotechnologies developed as nanomedicine today marks a revolution technological in the medical area.
These technologies are capable of new diagnostic methods, treatment of current unmanageable diseases, tissue
and organs repair, implants, nanodevices, therapies, drug delivery, etc. The first stages of nanomedicine were
characterized by an exploratory strategy were new techniques, material offering a great opportunity and benefits
for the industry, people, and society. While nanomedicine is starting to appear in almost every domain of our life
a concern about safety and possible effects on human health and environment have started to grow. The need for
new regenerative strategies has coincided with, and likely promoted, the emergence of the field of
nanotechnology. Over the past decade, the focus of nanoscience has shifted from the synthesis, development, and
characterization of novel nanostructures, to the exploration of potential applications for this technology to assist in
crucial problems as diverse as energy and medicine [47].
Perceptions and misperceptions of risk by policymakers, scientists and members of the public alike play a
significant role in decisions to allow technologies to go forward or not, and how best to mitigate any potential
problems. Value judgments occur at every step of the process, from the way a technology is represented in
various arenas to the determination of what criteria to use to measure effects, to determining who gets to decide
which risk are acceptable, and how they are to be evaluated [48].
Nanoparticles are used in nanomedicine as drug carries, and imaging agents, providing selectivity and specificity
for disease. The nanoparticles were developed to increase the efficacy of known drugs displaying dose limiting
toxicity and poor bioavailability, and to enhance disease detection. Nanotechnologies have gained much interest
owing to their huge potential for applications in industry and medicine. It is necessary to ensure and control the
biocompatibility of the components of therapeutic nanoparticles to guarantee that intrinsic toxicity does not
overtake the benefits. As well as monitoring their toxicity in vitro, and in vivo, it is also necessary to understand
their distribution in the human body, their biodegradation and excretion routes, and dispersion in the environment
[49].
Nanotechnology may lead to the production of new medical materials, equipments, devices, diagnostic methods
and systems with unique properties that cannot be obtained by current process. It is predicted that new
developments in nanomedicine will play an important role in advancing knowledge about life quality by
promoting human healthy, but this development and all research must include a risk analysis about human health
and environmental potential effects.
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