Parratt Kirsten, Yao Nan
Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton Imaging and Analysis Center, Princeton University, 120 Bowen Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2013 May 10;3(2):242-271. doi: 10.3390/nano3020242.
Some of the most important advances in the life sciences have come from transitioning to thinking of materials and their properties on the nanoscale rather than the macro or even microscale. Improvements in imaging technology have allowed us to see nanofeatures that directly impact chemical and mechanical properties of natural and man-made materials. Now that these can be imaged and quantified, substantial advances have been made in the fields of biomimetics, tissue engineering, and drug delivery. For the first time, scientists can determine the importance of nanograins and nanoasperities in nacre, direct the nucleation of apatite and the growth of cells on nanostructured scaffolds, and pass drugs tethered to nanoparticles through the blood-brain barrier. This review examines some of the most interesting materials whose nanostructure and hierarchical organization have been shown to correlate directly with favorable properties and their resulting applications.
生命科学领域一些最重要的进展来自于转向从纳米尺度而非宏观甚至微观尺度来思考材料及其特性。成像技术的进步使我们能够看到直接影响天然和人造材料化学及机械性能的纳米特征。既然这些特征能够被成像和量化，那么在仿生学、组织工程和药物递送领域已经取得了重大进展。科学家们首次能够确定珍珠层中纳米颗粒和纳米粗糙面的重要性，引导磷灰石在纳米结构支架上的成核以及细胞的生长，并使与纳米颗粒相连的药物穿过血脑屏障。本综述探讨了一些最有趣的材料，其纳米结构和层次组织已被证明与良好性能及其应用直接相关。
