Nanomaterials in medicine: a concise review of nanomaterials intended to treat pathology, nanomaterials induced by pathology, and pathology provoked by nanomaterials

Abstract

This contribution is a concise review of nanomaterials in medicine, those designed to treat pathology, those which are induced by pathology, and those which provoke pathology. Clearly, there is a vast family of therapeutic and medically relevant nanomaterials, to which numerous excellent journals and books are dedicated. The purpose of the first section is to illustrate the chemical complexity of research into therapeutic nanomaterials and the challenges in their characterisation. The second section treats that family of nanomaterials induced by diverse pathologies, such as metabolic disorders, infection, or cancer. Here, the challenge is to find characterisation techniques able to provide chemical information at the nanometer scale to enable and enhance early medical diagnosis. Finally, various nanomaterials injected into the human body for esthetic purposes are discussed, specifically tattoo inks which can provoke severe pathologies such as skin cancer.

Keywords

• Pathological calcifications
• Nanomaterials
• Medicine
• Characterization techniques
• Nanomedicine
• Nanotechnology
• Theranostics