Vinod Chiluka, Jena Srikanta
Department of Biological Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India.
Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, India.
Front Pharmacol. 2021 Mar 26;12:612692. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.612692. eCollection 2021.
Nanotheranostics is one of the emerging research areas in the field of nanobiotechnology offering exciting promises for diagnosis, bio-separation, imaging mechanisms, hyperthermia, phototherapy, chemotherapy, drug delivery, gene delivery, among other uses. The major criteria for any nanotheranostic-materials is 1) to interact with proteins and cells without meddling with their basic activities, 2) to maintain their physical properties after surface modifications and 3) must be nontoxic. One of the challenging targets for nanotheranostics is the nervous system with major hindrances from the neurovascular units, the functional units of blood-brain barrier. As blood-brain barrier is crucial for protecting the CNS from toxins and metabolic fluctuations, most of the synthetic nanomaterials cannot pass through this barrier making it difficult for diagnosing or targeting the cells. Biodegradable nanoparticles show a promising role in this aspect. Certain neural pathologies have compromised barrier creating a path for most of the nanoparticles to enter into the cells. However, such carriers may pose a risk of side effects to non-neural tissues and their toxicity needs to be elucidated at preclinical levels. This article reviews about the different types of nanotheranostic strategies applied in nervous dysfunctions. Further, the side effects of these carriers are reviewed and appropriate methods to test the toxicity of such nano-carriers are suggested to improve the effectiveness of nano-carrier based diagnosis and treatments.
纳米诊疗学是纳米生物技术领域新兴的研究领域之一，在诊断、生物分离、成像机制、热疗、光疗、化疗、药物递送、基因递送等诸多应用方面有着令人兴奋的前景。任何纳米诊疗材料的主要标准是：1）与蛋白质和细胞相互作用而不干扰其基本活动；2）表面修饰后保持其物理性质；3）必须无毒。纳米诊疗学面临的一个具有挑战性的目标是神经系统，神经血管单元（血脑屏障的功能单元）是主要障碍。由于血脑屏障对于保护中枢神经系统免受毒素和代谢波动的影响至关重要，大多数合成纳米材料无法穿过该屏障，这使得诊断或靶向细胞变得困难。可生物降解的纳米颗粒在这方面显示出有前景的作用。某些神经病理学损害了屏障，为大多数纳米颗粒进入细胞创造了一条途径。然而，此类载体可能对非神经组织产生副作用风险，其毒性需要在临床前水平进行阐明。本文综述了应用于神经功能障碍的不同类型的纳米诊疗策略。此外，还综述了这些载体的副作用，并提出了测试此类纳米载体毒性的适当方法，以提高基于纳米载体的诊断和治疗的有效性。
