Trends of Carbon Nanotubes in Medicine 

Nanomedicine is the emerging technologies and a branch of nanotechnology finding applications in healthcare. Several countries are pursuing active research programs in nanomedicine to explore novel healthcare solutions to address specific healthcare needs of the society. It is anticipated that in the next 5 years or so, several nanomedicine-based products shall reach the market.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), discovered by Japanese scientist Iijima in 1991, and it is now  considered to be a top class subject in  researches as well as in several industrial areas. The nanomaterials are allotropes of carbon which is made of graphite, and have been constructed in cylindrical in shape and few nanometres in diameter and several millimetres in length. Their structural, mechanical, and electronic properties are due to their size and mass, their incredible mechanical strength, and their high electrical and thermal conductivity. 

First Carbon nanotubes have been used as additives to various structural materials in electronics, optics, plastics, and other materials of nanotechnology fields. In 21st century, they have been introduced in pharmacy and medicine for drug delivery system in therapeutics. They have high surface area, excellent chemical stability, and rich electronic polyaromatic structure, CNTs are able to adsorb or conjugate with a wide variety of therapeutic molecules (drugs, proteins, antibodies, DNA, enzymes, etc.). 

In pharmacokinetical Studies and metabolism of diverse forms of CNTs have been investigated and some review articles about them have been reported in the literature recently. The biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of nanoparticles depend on their physicochemical characteristics such as surface functionalization, solubility, shape, aggregation, and chemical composition.

The results of CNT toxicological assays found in the literatures seem to be contradictory. Some preliminary in vitro tests have been done by scientists that CNTs are toxicologically benign to certain cells, while other further studies have indicated that CNTs, especially raw materials are potentially dangerous to many living systems.  But the discovery of this bionanotechnology has opened new alternatives more effective than the ancient drug delivery methods since CNTs can pass through cell membranes, carrying drugs, genes, biomolecules, vaccines, and so forth deep into the target cells or organs previously unreachable.