Athanasios Valavanidis*,Thomais Vlachogianni
Scientists in the last decades have precisely manipulated chemical atoms and molecules for fabrication of macroscale products with a wide range of applications. Nanotechnology emerged as one of the promising technologies in the 21st century. Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) provided a wide range of applications for pharmaceutical and biomedical products. After years of intensive research ENMs advanced rapidly for various technological applications because of their unique minute size, optical, electronic, magnetic, mechanical and chemical properties. Pharmacology and biomedical applications, especially, stand to benefit from obvious opportunities presented by nanomaterials. Because of their extraordinarily small dimensions, nanoscale substances are capable of venturing effortlessly in internal parts of the human body. ENMs can be designed from biocompatible and biodegradable constituents, and used to enhance the stability of otherwise fragile therapeutic drug molecules. They can improve drug solubility and bioavailability; enhance therapeutic molecule stability, and direct delivery of therapeutics to specific sites of action. Also, ENMs can be used for biomolecular sensing, molecular imaging of tumours and their stages of development. These properties will ensure the importance of nanomaterials to the design and delivery of medicinal substances for the foreseeable future. This review presents the most significant applications of nanoproducts in pharmacology and biomedicine, through selective scientific papers and reviews of the last decade. Also, the review covers the issues of health and safety from exposure to nanoproducts for workers, medical professionals and consumers.