Abstract
In recent years, we have witnessed to fast developments in the medicinal field of hydrogels containing various forms of integrated nanostructured carbon that adds interesting mechanical, thermal, and electronic properties. Besides key advances in tissue engineering (especially for conductive tissue, such as for the brain and the heart), there has been innovation also in the area of drug delivery on-demand, with engineered hydrogels capable of repeated response to light, thermal, or electric stimuli. This mini-review focusses on the most promising developments as applied to the gelation of protein/ peptide (including self-assembling amino acids and low-molecular-weight gelators), polysaccharide, and/or synthetic polymer components in medicine. The emerging field of graphene-only hydrogels is also briefly discussed, to give the reader a full flavor of the rising new paradigms in medicine that are made possible through the integration of nanostructured carbon (e.g., carbon nanotubes, nanohorns, nanodiamonds, fullerene, etc.). Nanocarbons are offering great opportunities to bring on a revolution in therapy that the modern medicinal chemist needs to master, to realise their full potential into powerful therapeutic solutions for the patient.
Keywords: Carbon nanostructures, Carbon nanotubes, Composite, Graphene, Hybrid, Hydrogels.
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry
Title:The Glitter of Carbon Nanostructures in Hybrid/Composite Hydrogels for Medicinal Use
Volume: 16 Issue: 18
Author(s): Daniel Iglesias, Susanna Bosi, Michele Melchionna, Tatiana Da Ros and Silvia Marchesan
Affiliation:
Keywords: Carbon nanostructures, Carbon nanotubes, Composite, Graphene, Hybrid, Hydrogels.
Abstract: In recent years, we have witnessed to fast developments in the medicinal field of hydrogels containing various forms of integrated nanostructured carbon that adds interesting mechanical, thermal, and electronic properties. Besides key advances in tissue engineering (especially for conductive tissue, such as for the brain and the heart), there has been innovation also in the area of drug delivery on-demand, with engineered hydrogels capable of repeated response to light, thermal, or electric stimuli. This mini-review focusses on the most promising developments as applied to the gelation of protein/ peptide (including self-assembling amino acids and low-molecular-weight gelators), polysaccharide, and/or synthetic polymer components in medicine. The emerging field of graphene-only hydrogels is also briefly discussed, to give the reader a full flavor of the rising new paradigms in medicine that are made possible through the integration of nanostructured carbon (e.g., carbon nanotubes, nanohorns, nanodiamonds, fullerene, etc.). Nanocarbons are offering great opportunities to bring on a revolution in therapy that the modern medicinal chemist needs to master, to realise their full potential into powerful therapeutic solutions for the patient.
Export Options
About this article
Cite this article as:
Iglesias Daniel, Bosi Susanna, Melchionna Michele, Da Ros Tatiana and Marchesan Silvia, The Glitter of Carbon Nanostructures in Hybrid/Composite Hydrogels for Medicinal Use, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 2016; 16 (18) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568026616666160215154807
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568026616666160215154807 |
Print ISSN 1568-0266 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1873-4294 |
Call for Papers in Thematic Issues
Chemistry Based on Natural Products for Therapeutic Purposes
The development of new pharmaceuticals for a wide range of medical conditions has long relied on the identification of promising natural products (NPs). There are over sixty percent of cancer, infectious illness, and CNS disease medications that include an NP pharmacophore, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Since NP ...read more
Current Trends in Drug Discovery Based on Artificial Intelligence and Computer-Aided Drug Design
Drug development discovery has faced several challenges over the years. In fact, the evolution of classical approaches to modern methods using computational methods, or Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD), has shown promising and essential results in any drug discovery campaign. Among these methods, molecular docking is one of the most notable ...read more
Drug Discovery in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), we have witnessed a significant boom in AI techniques for drug discovery. AI techniques are increasingly integrated and accelerating the drug discovery process. These developments have not only attracted the attention of academia and industry but also raised important questions regarding the selection ...read more
From Biodiversity to Chemical Diversity: Focus of Flavonoids
Flavonoids are the largest group of polyphenols, plant secondary metabolites arising from the essential aromatic amino acid phenylalanine (or more rarely from tyrosine) via the phenylpropanoid pathway. The flavan nucleus is the basic 15-carbon skeleton of flavonoids (C6-C3-C6), which consists of two phenyl rings (A and B) and a heterocyclic ...read more
- Author Guidelines
- Graphical Abstracts
- Fabricating and Stating False Information
- Research Misconduct
- Post Publication Discussions and Corrections
- Publishing Ethics and Rectitude
- Increase Visibility of Your Article
- Archiving Policies
- Peer Review Workflow
- Order Your Article Before Print
- Promote Your Article
- Manuscript Transfer Facility
- Editorial Policies
- Allegations from Whistleblowers
- Announcements
Related Articles
-
Cytokine Profile in Patients Infected with Anisakis simplex in Endemic Areas: Dietary Intervention with Polyphenols: A Working Hypothesis
Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets Nucleic Acids Electro-transfer: From Bench to Bedside
Current Drug Metabolism Oxidative DNA Damage and Oxidant/Anti-Oxidant Enzymatic Systems in Carcinogenesis and Cancer Progression
Current Enzyme Inhibition Clinical Management of Diabetes Mellitus in the Older Adult Patient
Current Diabetes Reviews miR-203 Suppresses the Proliferation and Metastasis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Targeting Oncogene ADAM9 and Oncogenic Long Non-coding RNA HULC
Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry New Insights into the Chemistry and Antioxidant Activity of Coumarins
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry Glycoprotein Targeting and Other Applications of Lectins in Biotechnology
Current Protein & Peptide Science Epi-Drugs and Epi-miRs: Moving Beyond Current Cancer Therapies
Current Cancer Drug Targets Metalloproteinases Suppression Driven by the Curcumin Analog DM-1 Modulates Invasion in BRAF-Resistant Melanomas
Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry Gastroretentive Drug Delivery System of Metoclopramide Hydrochloride: Formulation and In vitro Evaluation
Current Drug Delivery Patent Selections
Recent Patents on Inflammation & Allergy Drug Discovery Insights into Angiogenesis in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Molecular Mechanisms, Polymorphic Genes, and Targeted Therapies
Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery Therapeutic Potential of Natural Products in Parkinson’s Disease
Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Drug Discovery Current Status of Mucoadhesive Gel Systems for Buccal Drug Delivery
Current Pharmaceutical Design Sera/Organ Lysates of Selected Animals Living in Polluted Environments Exhibit Cytotoxicity against Cancer Cell Lines
Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry Association of Metronidazole with Cancer: A Potential Risk Factor or Inconsistent Deductions?
Current Drug Metabolism New Insights for Multifactorial Disease Therapy: The Challenge of the Symbiotic Drugs
Current Drug Therapy Role of Rap2 and its Downstream Effectors in Tumorigenesis
Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry Selective Internal Radiation Therapy with Yttrium-90 for Unresectable Liver Tumours
Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials MicroRNA Dysregulation in Gastric Cancer
Current Pharmaceutical Design