Synthetic calcium phosphates (CaPs) are the most widely accepted biomaterials for the repair and reconstruction of bone tissue defects, thanks to their excellent features, including biocompatibility, bioactivity, osteocondutivity, nontoxicity, and nonimmu nogenicity.1 Besides the outstanding properties as biomaterials, one of the most inter esting feature of CaPs is their surface reactivity and capability to surface bind and/or host in the crystal lattice a wide variety of functional ions or biomolecules.2 Conven tionally, CaP-based materials are principally processed as three-dimensional dense or porous monolithic ceramics, porous composites with synthetic, or natural poly mers, injectable cements, or coatings of metallic implants.3 The recent advancements in the nanotechnological approaches have prompted a rapid progress in the prepara tion of CaPs with tailored surface characteristics, nanometric dimensions, and colloi dal stability opening new perspectives in their use in nanomedicine.4 Nanomedicine is defined as the application of nanomaterials to address healthcare problems.5 The recent trend in this field is the achievement of theranostic nanoparticles (NPs) that can fulfill a therapeutic action and at the same time deliver diagnostic information through an imaging probe.6 Indeed, when compared to other inorganic NPs (silica, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, and magnetic particles), CaPs possess the follow ing advantages: favorable biodegradability and biocompatibility, lower toxicity, low production costs and excellent storage properties (not easily subjected to microbial degradation), and pH-dependent dissolution (in particular they dissolve at low pH, for example, in lysosomes, after cellular uptake or in the acidic environment of sev eral solid tumors or inflammation sites, thereby releasing the incorporated drugs or ions or any other biologically active molecule).7,8 The present subchapter outlines the principal characteristics of CaPs to be used as promising theranostic agent and on the basis of a large literature survey, the most recent reports on multifunctional theranostic CaP NPs are analyzed.
Targeted and theranostic applications for nanotechnologies in medicine: Nanostructured calcium phosphates for theranostic nanomedicine
Degli Esposti L;
2017-01-01
Abstract
Synthetic calcium phosphates (CaPs) are the most widely accepted biomaterials for the repair and reconstruction of bone tissue defects, thanks to their excellent features, including biocompatibility, bioactivity, osteocondutivity, nontoxicity, and nonimmu nogenicity.1 Besides the outstanding properties as biomaterials, one of the most inter esting feature of CaPs is their surface reactivity and capability to surface bind and/or host in the crystal lattice a wide variety of functional ions or biomolecules.2 Conven tionally, CaP-based materials are principally processed as three-dimensional dense or porous monolithic ceramics, porous composites with synthetic, or natural poly mers, injectable cements, or coatings of metallic implants.3 The recent advancements in the nanotechnological approaches have prompted a rapid progress in the prepara tion of CaPs with tailored surface characteristics, nanometric dimensions, and colloi dal stability opening new perspectives in their use in nanomedicine.4 Nanomedicine is defined as the application of nanomaterials to address healthcare problems.5 The recent trend in this field is the achievement of theranostic nanoparticles (NPs) that can fulfill a therapeutic action and at the same time deliver diagnostic information through an imaging probe.6 Indeed, when compared to other inorganic NPs (silica, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, and magnetic particles), CaPs possess the follow ing advantages: favorable biodegradability and biocompatibility, lower toxicity, low production costs and excellent storage properties (not easily subjected to microbial degradation), and pH-dependent dissolution (in particular they dissolve at low pH, for example, in lysosomes, after cellular uptake or in the acidic environment of sev eral solid tumors or inflammation sites, thereby releasing the incorporated drugs or ions or any other biologically active molecule).7,8 The present subchapter outlines the principal characteristics of CaPs to be used as promising theranostic agent and on the basis of a large literature survey, the most recent reports on multifunctional theranostic CaP NPs are analyzed.
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