The Use of Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery

There are different methods by which drugs can be administered into the body. They are divided into invasive and non-invasive methods. The use of nanotechnology in drug delivery falls directly under invasive subcategory. This method is preferred because it solves various complications presented by the conventional methods of drug delivery.

Nanotechnology in drug delivery is the maneuvering of matter on an atom, molecule, and the supramolecular scale which consists of the designing, producing, characterizing, and applying varying nanoscale materials into important and volatile areas which then leads to the emergence of a technological revolution in those critical sectors as clinical sciences.

The medical field has been a recipient of this technological surge which has proved crucial in administering drugs in the invasive subcategory. Hence, though the use of nanotechnology in drug delivery and its invention is quite novel, nanomedicine and nanosystems of drug delivery are developing at a rapid velocity.

This innovation has been grounded in periods when nanoscaled materials are used to diagnose diseases or deliver drugs to specific targets in the body in a controlled and predictable manner.

Nanotechnology presents multiple benefits in nursing chronic human diseases and this is because of its target-oriented treatment. With the use of nanomaterials, selective diagnoses are made and direct treatment is administered. However, in recent times, there have been some landmark breakthroughs in the application of nanotechnology in the treatment of numerous diseases.

For instance, over the years, the use of drugs with therapeutic effects on the brain has reduced due to the incapability of those drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier, a shortcoming which has remained a notorious setback in the treatment of brain cancer. With an affinity for nanomaterials, some anti-cancer drugs like doxorubicin and loperamide are now created to cross this barrier and exert their effects on the brain.

This system was developed as a result of the pressure on scientists by the ineffectiveness of the traditional methods. Nanotechnology uses macromolecules like DNA and proteins to exist as nanoparticles to deliver drugs into the body. These nanoparticles are even tiny and delicate than the double-stranded DNA.

Because of their atomic sizes, however, diameters between 1-100 nm, and the ability to rapidly diffuse across a wide range of biological membranes, making absorption into the bloodstream travel at a fast pace. Nanoparticles are now used as delivery agents by coating drugs or attaching therapeutic substances and directly delivering them into the target sites in a controlled manner with a predictable result which has overtime improved the artificial intake of drugs especially into extremely sick bodies.

Before using a nanomaterial as a drug delivery agent, it’s important to study the physicochemical properties of the drug to allow easy distribution by dispersion across membranes. Especially drugs with low solubility and little ability of absorption. The use of nanotechnology in drug delivery also vary with efficacy, based on size, weight, and shape.

It should be regarded here that the first product of nanoparticle-based therapy was the liposomes and micelles, both lipid systems which can be made up of inorganic particles which are, in most cases, magnetic nanoparticles. With these properties incorporated into the transfer of drugs into the target point, they increase the use of inorganic nanoparticles and aid therapeutic objectives.

Nanostructures, an application of nanomaterials in medicine has also been recorded to aid in the prevention of drugs from being contaminated in the gastrointestinal region which thus enhances the delivery of water-soluble drugs in the specific location.

Nanoparticles are critical in all phases of clinical practice. It enhances the basic acquisition of detailed information through the diagnosis and treatment process of numerous and dangerous diseases. Thus, with regard to the physicochemical properties of drugs, the use of both biologically active natural compounds and nanoscience has evolved rapidly in recent times.

This growth is owed to its advantages which have proved significant, for instance, in the treatment of cancer. That is, nanoscience has been developed to transmitting natural products to the bodies of cancer patients and for the eventual treatment of such patients. Hence, natural compounds cure diseases that occur due to induced tumor-suppressing autophagy and antimicrobial agents actors, etcetera. With the enrichment of these properties through their bioavailability, targeted and controlled release is influenced by the incorporation of nanoparticles.

Nanotechnology in drug delivery has been applied to treat infections by increasing strains of drug-resistant bacteria. By this, an enhanced permeation and retention effect is closely associated with the treatment of diseases, especially, cancer treatment during which the permeation of capillaries increases.

The benefit of the application of nanotechnology in drug delivery includes its ability to deliver drugs to target locations regardless of their poor water-soluble. Similarly, before the use of a drug, the location of the drugs is given which then reduces the accumulation of drugs within healthy tissues.

Nanotechnology in drug delivery has also proved substantial in retaining the administered drug in the body for efficacy until the time of treatment lasts and actual treatment is administered. More so, it aids drug bioactivity via its protection from a biological infested climate. Nanotechnology has also proved important in its tackle of and permission of drugs across epithelial and endothelial thresholds.

In the areas of therapy and diagnosis, the combination of the two is made into one agent which aids the treatment process of a target patient. At this, nanoparticles are engineered to attract diseased cells and ultimately perform direct treatment on those diseased cells which thus reduces their damage to other healthy cells of the body.

Various resources have been provided into the research of the benefits of nanotechnology in drug delivery and chemotherapy. Equally, researchers seek a more effective method to convey therapeutic drugs into diseased cells of the body. They have devised two nanoparticles: the first locates the tumor while the second nanoparticle administers the treatment of the drugs.

Also, researchers are dedicated to developing a method of delivering cardiac stem cells into already damaged heart tissues. Nanoparticles, in this context, are being used with their artificial HDL and iron oxide properties which sets the treatment of the arterial plaque in the organ of the diseased body.

These and other innovations are recent contributions to the development of nanotechnology in the use of drug delivery and nanotechnology. Nanotechnology remains significant in improving the process of diagnosis and early medications of the right drugs. Nanotechnology in drug delivery is also improved to secure alternatives to conventional treatments of diseases.