Roles of Nanoparticle Properties in Nanotechnology for Medical Therapeutics

Abstract

Nanotechnology-based therapeutics have attracted a great deal of attention to overcome the lack of specificity and permeability of conventional agents. The unusual physiochemical properties of nanoparticles make therapeutics at the nanoscale possible. More recently, the enhanced understanding of these properties has led to the rapid development of nanotechnology for various nano-based treatments. Herein, the basics of nanoparticle physicochemical properties, emphasizing optical, surface, and mechanical properties, are presented. Meanwhile, the current and emerging nanotechnologies in the field of medical therapeutics of the past decade are discussed, with a special emphasis on the underlying mechanisms of these properties in these applications. However, these properties’ roles in nano-based therapeutics have just begun, and further exploration of how nanoparticle properties affect cell-nanoparticle interactions is necessary. Therefore, the interesting studies and findings surveyed in this review will provide a better understanding of how this area has evolved over the past decades, and the fundamental understanding of nanoparticle properties will shed light on designing and exploring better nanotechnologies for medical treatments.