Smart Nanoparticles for Biomedicine

1. Introduction: Smart materials in biomedicine
Elisa Mele
2. Smart polymeric nanoparticles
Clara Mattu, Giulia Brachi and Gianluca Ciardelli
3. Smart liposomes for drug delivery
Tianshu Li and Shinji Takeoka
4. Pharmacologically-active plant-derived natural products
Adela Pintea, Dumitrita Rugina and Zorița Diaconeasa
5. Nanostructured cyanoacrylates: biomedical applications
Ilker Bayer
6. Applications of carbon nanotubes in the biomedical field
Cecilia Menard-Moyon
7. Carbon nanomaterials for nanomedicine
Silvia Giordani and Marta d'Amora
8. Silica nanoparticles applications in the biomedical field
Larissa Brentano Capeletti, Lívia Mesquita Dias Loiola, Agustin Silvio Picco Sr., Michelle da Silva Liberato and Mateus Borba Cardoso
9. Magnetic nanoparticles and their bio-applications
Christos Tapeinos
10. TiO2 nanotube arrays as smart platforms for biomedical applications
Giada Graziana Genchi, Yiqi Cao and Tejal Desai
11. Antioxidant Inorganic nanoparticles and their potential applications in biomedicine
William Thomas Self and Austin Burns
12. Zinc oxide nanostructures in biomedicine
Luisa Racca, Marta Canta, Bianca Dumontel, Andrea Ancona, Tania Limongi, Nadia Garino, Marco Laurenti, Giancarlo Canavese and Valentina Cauda
13. Smart inorganic nanoparticles for wireless cell stimulation
Attilio Marino, Matteo Battaglini, Ilaria Pezzini and Gianni Ciofani
14. Nano-sized optical thermometers
Satoshi Arai and Madoka Suzuki
15. Advanced optical microscopy techniques for the investigation of cell-nanoparticle interactions
Natalia Feiner-Gracia, Sílvia Pujals, Pietro Delcanale and Lorenzo Albertazzi

Smart Nanoparticles for Biomedicine explores smart nanoparticles that change their structural or functional properties in response to specific external stimuli (electric or magnetic fields, electromagnetic radiation, ultrasound, etc.). Particular attention is given to multifunctional nanostructured materials that are pharmacologically active and that can be actuated by virtue of their magnetic, dielectric, optically-active, redox-active, or piezoelectric properties. This important reference resource will be of great value to readers who want to learn more on how smart nanoparticles can be used to create more effective treatment solutions.

Nanotechnology has enabled unprecedented control of the interactions between materials and biological entities, from the microscale, to the molecular level. Nanosurfaces and nanostructures have been used to mimic or interact with biological microenvironments, to support specific biological functions, such as cell adhesion, mobility and differentiation, and in tissue healing. Recently, a new paradigm has been proposed for nanomedicine to exploit the intrinsic properties of nanomaterials as active devices rather than as passive structural units or carriers for medications.

• Discusses the synthesis, characterization and applications of a new generation of smart nanoparticles for nanomedicine applications
• Explores the problems relating to the biocompatibility of a range of nanoparticles, outlining potential solutions
• Describes techniques for manipulating specific classes of nanoparticles for a variety of treatment types

Materials scientists, life science scientists, bioengineers, pharmacologists at both graduate academic and practitioner levels