Application of Nanotechnology in Diagnosis, Drug Dissolution, Drug Discovery, and Drug Carrier

Abstract

Nanotechnology (NT) is the branch of science that deals with the matter at nanoscale. Nanostructured materials offer great advantage in the field of diagnosis due to their unique physiochemical properties. The conventional method of diagnosis is time taking and demands expertise. Early diagnosis of major harmful diseases such as cancer leads to better prognosis. Nanodiagnostics (NDs) is the application of nanostructures in biomedical sciences. It offers cheaper and early diagnosis, and there is no need for experts to perform the tests based on nanotechnology. Nanoscale-fabricated structured devices provide diagnostic results available at the patient’s bedside i.e., point-of-care diagnosis. Common nanomaterials such as nanoparticles, nanowires, nanorobots, and nanocrystals are used to fabricate useful nanodevices such as nanobiosensors, biochips, etc. Application of nanotechnology has been seen everywhere in medical sciences. The use of nanomaterials in nanodiagnostics significantly improved the method of diagnosis in techniques such as immunohistochemistry (IHC), genotyping, cancer detection, and biomarker detection. Nano-based contrast agents are frequently in use in the field of imaging such as MRI, ultrasound, PET/CT scan, and so on. NT also troubleshoots one of the major problems in pharmaceutical industries, i.e., poor solubility of drugs. Poor solubility of drugs decreases the bioavailability of drugs and increases the systemic toxicity in vivo. Nanocarriers such as liposomes, dendrimers, and polymeric micelles not only overcome this problem but also offer some additional advantage like targeted drug delivery. Integration of nanotechnology with other techniques like microfluidics holds great promises in the field of diagnosis.