Nanotechnology is the science of materials at the molecular or subatomic level. It involves manipulation of particles smaller than 100 nanometres (one nanometre is one-billionth of a metre) and the technology involves developing materials or devices within that size — invisible to the human eye and often many hundred times thinner than the width of human hair. The physics and chemistry of materials are radically different when reduced to the nanoscale; they have different strengths, conductivity and reactivity, and exploiting this could revolutionise medicine.

Body:

The contributions of Nanotechnology to the health Industry:

• Diagnostics and screening:
  • There is an urgent need in the developing world for better disease diagnosis, and nanotechnology offers a multitude of options for detecting disease.
  • Example: Fluorescent quantum dots could improve malaria diagnosis by targeting the blood cell’s inner membrane.
  • Similarly, carbon nanotubes, and other nanoparticles such as nanowires, have been used as biosensors to detect diseases such as HIV and cancer. Cancer biosensors can be made, for instance, by attaching nucleic acid probes to the ends of nanowires.
• Drug delivery:
  • Nanotechnology could also revolutionise drug delivery by overcoming challenges such as how to sustain the release of drugs in the body and improving bioavailability — the amount of active ingredient per dose.
  • Some drugs can now be delivered through ‘nanovehicles’.
  • For example liposomes, which can deliver the drug payload by fusing with cell membranes, have been used to encapsulate HIV drugs such as stavudine and zidovudine in vehicles ranging from 120 to 200 nanometres in size.
  • Nanocapsules are pods that encapsulate drugs, which ensures the drugs are released more slowly and steadily in the body
• Health monitoring:
  • Nanotubes and nanoparticles can be used as glucose, carbon dioxide and cholesterol sensors and for in-situ monitoring of homeostasis, the process by which the body maintains metabolic equilibrium.
  • In developing nations, the use of nanotechnology is also being explored in the fight against infectious diseases such as HIV and TB.
  • Nanoparticles could also be the basis for delivering an aerosol TB vaccine.
  • Needle-free, and therefore not requiring trained personnel to administer it, the vaccine is stable at room temperatures — important in rural areas that lack a reliable cold chain.
• Vaccines:
  • Nanotechnology could herald a new era in immunisation by providing alternatives to injectable vaccines for diseases that affect the poor.
  • Injectable vaccines need to be administered by healthcare professionals, who may be scarce in developing countries, particularly in rural areas.
  • Vaccines also need reliable refrigeration along the delivery chain. Scientists are working on an aerosol TB vaccine.
  • They are also investigating a nanotechnology-based skin patch against West Nile Virus and Chikungunya virus.
• Tissue growth and regenerative medicine:
  • Researches in tissue regenerative medicine aims in developing implants or scaffolds capable for delivering drugs, growth factors, hormones for tissue repair.
  • They provide sustained delivery of bioactive molecules to support survival, infiltration and proliferation of cells for tissue engineering.
  • The expected outcome of such treatment modality is to have complete tissue replacement and functional recovery.

Conclusion:

Nanotechnology offers the ability to build large numbers of products that are incredibly powerful. Nanomedicines and nanodevices are in their early stages of development. The development processes are heavily intertwined with biotechnology and information technology, making its scope very wide. Nanotechnology based products are capable of overcoming the limitations of traditional methods. But, the major challenges are yet to prevail over its toxicity, environmental hazards, production cost and accessibility to the un-reachable at far-off areas.