Nanomaterials-Tools, Technology and Methodology of Nanotechnology Based Biomedical Systems for Diagnostics and Therapy

Abstract

Nanomedicine helps to fight diseases at the cellular and molecular level by utilizing unique properties of quasi-atomic particles at a size scale ranging from 1 to 100 nm. Nanoparticles are used in therapeutic and diagnostic approaches, referred to as theranostics. The aim of this review is to illustrate the application of general principles of nanotechnology to select examples of life sciences, molecular medicine and bio-assays. Critical aspects relating to those examples are discussed.

Keywords: biomaterials; diagnostic; medicine; nano drugs; nano medicine; nano sensors; therapy.

Figure 1

Patients benefit from advances in nanotechnology in medicine. To further our understanding of nanotechnology means to benefit applied research. Applied research in turn then aids the development and production of, e.g., more effective and less costly diagnostic approaches of and treatments for illnesses. Tissue engineering, as another example, also benefits from improvements in nanomedicine with direct benefits for patients, who find quality of life restored and/or improved by more biocompatible implantable devices.

Figure 2

Schematic illustration of the principle of atomic force microscopy. In atomic force microscopy applications, a recording device is used to analyze the movements of a cantilever with a small mass attached to it (see the text for details).

Figure 3

Linear displacement response of cantilevers in broad-band all-photonic transduction using a uni-modular photonic waveguide. Shown here is one graph of possible linear replacement functions R_O for two cantilevers (a; b) as function of the linear replacement Δz, provided that R_O = 0 (internal normalization). Each function for a given cantilever is shown to maximize at different values of Δz, indicating the proper relative position of each cantilever to another in a Cartesian space for optimal transduction efficiency (see the text for details).

Figure 4

Single-molecule force spectroscopy is an AFM application. An enzyme, attached to a cantilever, is used as sensor, in strict analogy to AFM. As shown here, the enzyme is exposed to an array of substrates, depicted using shapes. The strength of the enzyme-substrate, derived from computer-assisted analysis of the recorded translocation of the cantilever, can then be used to develop biochemical assays (see the text for details).

Figure 5

Select steps of the biogeneration of IPP via the mevalonate route in most archaea, fungi and animalia. Three molecules of acetyl-coenzyme A (Ac-CoA) are condensed to hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) in an HMG-CoA-synthase-catalyzed reaction with a concomitant release of two reduced CoA (HSCoA) molecules. The following endothermic reduction is catalyzed by the HMG-CoA-reductase. Here, reduced CoA is released and Mevalonate is generated, which then, serves as precursor in the biosynthesis of IPP (see text for details).

Figure 6

Select steps of the IPP biosynthesis in most bacteria, fungi and plantae. Pyruvate is condensed with glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate to generate 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate (DXP) in the presence of the 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS), which is then transformed into 2-C-methyl-d-erythriol-4-phosphate (MEP) in the presence of the 2-C-methyl-d-erythriol-4-phosphate reducto-isomerase (IspC) using energy provided by the hydrolysis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (HADPH) to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). MEP is then used for further functionalization to yield iso-pentenyl-diphosphate (IPP) as precursor for ubiquinone and its derivatives (see the text for details).

Figure 7

Small gold particles quench the fluorescence intensity of a nearby chromophore. A small gold particle with the radius r can quench the fluorescence intensity of a chromophore with the magnetic moment µ oriented perpendicular to the nanoparticle-chromophore axis of 1 nm according an exponential decay γ (expressed as function of time with r and d being held constant (see text for details).

Figure 8

Surface plasmon waves can be regarded as oscillations of the electron gas of a noble metal nanoparticle in response to irradiation with polychromatic light. As shown here, the electron gas of a gold particle of the size below the wavelength of the irradiating light responds to the dislocation in response to the electromagnetic wave with an oscillation (see text for details).

Figure 9

Structures of some biodegradable and amphophilic co-polymers with Cholesterol as functionalization to target tumor cells. See the text and Lee et al. [88] for details.

Figure 10

Derivation of a factor better than a random guess from the area under the standardized operating characteristics curve. Shown here are specificity (a) and sensitivity (b) normalized to 1 and the area under the standardized operating characteristics curve (AUC). If a = b can be used to describe a random guess, subtracting the area of the right triangle (in red) from AUC, a factor is obtained that, when multiplied with 100, shows how much better an assay is than the random guess (see text for details).