Toxicology and Safety of Nanoparticles in Drug Delivery System

Abstract

Recently, nanotechnology has been rapidly developed and applied in medicine and pharmaceutical products. Nanoparticles have been intensively studied and proposed for medical uses, especially for drug delivery due to the unique characteristics of these nanoparticles such as particle sizes and surface area per unit volume. However, these specific characters may induce adverse side effects in clinical practice leading to unexpected or delayed toxicity. In this chapter, the following topics will be discussed. Firstly, benefits and toxicities of different types of biological origin or chemical nanoparticles in drug delivery will be discussed including carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, metal nanoparticles, liposomes, polymeric micelles, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, and fullerenes. Secondly, biotransformation, biodistribution, and clearance of these nanoparticles in drug delivery system will be reviewed as these factors may implicate on their toxicities and their uses in clinic.