Nanoparticles biomedical applications

Water soluble starch capped nanoparticles proved to be efficient non-cytotoxic bactericidal agents at nanomolar concentrations. The investigation also suggested that starch capped CuNPs have great potential for use in biomedical applications such as cellular imaging or photothermal therapy. 

Tartaj, P., Morales, M.P., Verdaguer, S.V., Carreno, T.G. and Serna, C.J. (2006) Synthesis, Properties and Biomedical Application of Magnetic Nanoparticle Handbook of Magnetic Materials, Elesevier, Amsterdam. 

Arias, J.L., Lopez-Viota, M., Ruiz, M.A., Lopez-Viota, J. and Delgado, A.V. (2007) Development of carhonyl iron/ ethylcellulose core/shell nanoparticles for biomedical applications. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 339, 237-245. 

The chapters cover the following areas (i) use of coordination complexes in all types of catalysis (Chapters 1-11) (ii) applications related to the optical properties of coordination complexes, which covers fields as diverse as solar cells, nonlinear optics, display devices, pigments and dyes, and optical data storage (Chapters 12-16) (iii) hydrometallurgical extraction (Chapter 17) (iv) medicinal and biomedical applications of coordination complexes, including both imaging and therapy (Chapters 18-22) and (v) use of coordination complexes as precursors to semiconductor films and nanoparticles (Chapter 23). As such, the material in this volume ranges from solid-state physics to biochemistry. 

Nanoparticles such as those of the heavy metals, like cadmium selenide, cadmium sulfide, lead sulfide, and cadmium telluride are potentially toxic [14,15]. The possible mechanisms by which nanoparticles cause toxicity inside cells are schematically shown in Fig. 2. They need to be coated or capped with low toxicity or nontoxic organic molecules or polymers (e.g., PEG) or with inorganic layers (e.g., ZnS and silica) for most of the biomedical applications. In fact, many biomedical imaging and detection applications of QDs encapsulated by complex molecules do not exhibit noticeable toxic effects [16]. One report shows that the tumor cells labeled with QDs survived in circulation and extravasated into tissues... 

Nanoparticle surface modification is of tremendous importance to prevent nanoparticle aggregation prior to injection, decrease the toxicity, and increase the solubility and the biocompatibility in a living system [20]. Imaging studies in mice clearly show that QD surface coatings alter the disposition and pharmacokinetic properties of the nanoparticles. The key factors in surface modifications include the use of proper solvents and chemicals or biomolecules used for the attachment of the drug, targeting ligands, proteins, peptides, nucleic acids etc. for their site-specific biomedical applications. The functionalized or capped nanoparticles should be preferably dispersible in aqueous media. 

Surface modification is necessary in nanoparticles for various reasons (1) to make them biocompatible and non-immunogenic for biomedical applications,... 

Generally, gold nanoparticles have been used for most biomedical applications. Gold nanoparticles with varying core sizes are usually prepared by the reduction of... 

An overview on the synthesis and biomedical applications of dye-doped silica nanoparticles is given in recent review [79]. 

NeubergerT, Schopf B, Hofmann H, Hofmann M, von Rechenberg B (2005) Superparamagnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications possibilities and limitations of a new drug delivery system. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 293 483 196. 

Vigneshwaran et al. (2006) s mthesized stable silver nanoparticles by using soluble starch as both the reducing and stabilizing agents. The use of environmentally benign and renewable materials like soluble starch offers numerous benefits of eco-friendliness and compatibility for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. 

Biomaterials such as proteins/enzymes or DNA display highly selective catalytic and recognition properties. Au nanoparticles or nanorods show electronic, photonic and catalytic properties. The convergence of both types of materials gives rise to Au NP-biomolecule hybrids that represent a very active research area. The combination of properties leads to the appearance of biosensors due to the optical or electrical transduction of biological phenomena. Moreover, multifunctional Au NP-peptide hybrids can be used for targeting nuclear cells where genetic information is stored and could be useful for biomedical applications [146]. 

The development of assemblies of inorganic materials with biomolecules has emerged as a novel approach to the controlled fabrication of functionalized nanostructures and networks.5 The practice of DNA sequence detection is especially relevant for forensic sciences, food safety, genetics and other fields.6 The immobilization of single strand DNA probes onto solid materials such as noble metal nanoparticles has proved to be the basis for a multitude of quite different nanobiotech-nological and biomedical applications, including the DNA driven assembly of nanoparticles and biosensors.5-11... 

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