Abstract
Increasing awareness of chronic pain due to both injury and disease have encouraged drug companies and pharmaceutical researchers alike to design and fabricate better, more specific drugs for pain relief. However, overuse of clinically available pain medication has caused a multitude of negative repercussions, including drug tolerance, addiction, and other severe side effects, which can prolong suffering and reduce pain mediation. Applications of nanotechnology to the field of drug delivery has sought to enhance the treatment efficiency, lower side effects, and mitigate the formation of tolerance. The use of nanomaterials has several advantages for chronic pain relief, such as controlled release, prolonged circulation time, and limited side effects. With the development of nanotechnology, strategies for chronic pain relief have also bourgeoned utilizing a variety of nanomaterials and targeting surface modifications. In addition to using these materials as carriers for drug delivery, nanomaterials can also be designed to have inherent properties that relieve chronic pain. This minireview covers the current status of designed nanomaterials for pain relief and provides a discussion of future considerations for nanotechnology designed for relieving chronic pain.
Highlights
Chronic pain is characterized by enhanced responses to different external stimuli, known as hyperalgesia, and is induced by inflammation following injury (Ji et al, 2014)
Current methods of pain relief and enhanced quality of life predominantly rely on surgery (Ducic et al, 2008), medication (Volkow et al, 2018), physical therapy (Ambrose and Golightly, 2015), and psychological therapy (De Williams et al, 2012)
(Zhuo, 2016), abuse (Vowles et al, 2015; Volkow and McLellan, 2016), and even death. These significant drawbacks of clinically available drugs have shifted the focus of drug development on improving the targeting of drugs, reducing side effects, and prolonging the release of the active compounds (Gao and Ji, 2010)
Summary
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Nanobiotechnology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. The use of nanomaterials has several advantages for chronic pain relief, such as controlled release, prolonged circulation time, and limited side effects. With the development of nanotechnology, strategies for chronic pain relief have bourgeoned utilizing a variety of nanomaterials and targeting surface modifications. In addition to using these materials as carriers for drug delivery, nanomaterials can be designed to have inherent properties that relieve chronic pain. This minireview covers the current status of designed nanomaterials for pain relief and provides a discussion of future considerations for nanotechnology designed for relieving chronic pain
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