Title:Nanomaterials in the Pharmaceuticals: Occurrence, Behaviour and Applications
Volume: 22
Issue: 11
Author(s): Imran Uddin, Siddarthan Venkatachalam, Arka Mukhopadhyay and Mohd Amil Usmani
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Nanoparticles, Pharmaceutical, Biomacromolecule/Protein, Risk assessment, Drug delivery.
Abstract: Nanoparticles are an emerging class of multi-functional materials defined by size-dependent properties.
The ever-growing interest in nanotechnology research has been attributed to the significant properties and parameters
of the nanoparticles that make them more versatile than their bulk counter parts that are expected to have large
spectrum impact on existing technologies such as drug delivery, biomedical, therapeutics, healthcare and pharmaceutical.
The main objectives of this review are to study the impact, occurrence and behaviour of nanomaterials and
their applications in pharmaceuticals. Nano-approaches are being explored globally to enhance bioavailability of
drugs and diagnostics. This is due to the extremely small size and large specific surface areas of the nanoparticles
that may interact directly with cellular system. Biomacromolecule surface recognition by nanoparticles acts as artificial receptors, which
provide a potential tool for controlling cellular and extracellular processes for numerous biological applications such as diagnostics, therapy,
drug delivery and biosensing. This review article is expected to broaden our understanding towards the development of nanoparticles
based diagnostics, combination therapies in treating different diseases and other pharmaceutical applications.
