Home News Comunication ADDR review
ADDR review PDF Print E-mail
Scientific communication

addr

A REVIEW ON THE MECHANISMS OF INORGANIC NANOPARTICLES/BIOFLUIDS INTERACTIONS

A deep knowledge of the processes occurring when a nanoparticle cames in contact with the biological fluids  at a  molecular level is extremely important in both toxicological and pharmaceutical  fields. The fate of a nanoparticle in the body and the toxic or beneficial response of cells to it are, in fact, strictly dependent by the early processes occurring at the nanoparticle surface/biofluid interface. The comprehension of such processes is still at the early stages.

Ivana Fenoglio has been invited to review the stat-of-the-art  of understanding inorganic surfaces/macrobiomolecules interaction in ADDR (I. Fenoglio, B. Fubini, E. Ghibaudi, F. Turci, Multiple aspects of the interaction of biomacromolecules with inorganic surfaces Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 2011, 63, 1186-1209). Read the abstract.

The understanding of the mechanisms involved in the interaction of biological systems with inorganic materials is of interest in both fundamental and applied disciplines. The adsorption of proteins modulates the formation of biofilms onto surfaces, a process important in infections associated to medical implants, in dental caries, in environmental technologies. The interaction with biomacromolecules is crucial to determine the beneficial/adverse response of cells to foreign inorganic materials as implants, engineered or accidentally produced inorganic nanoparticles. A detailed knowledge of the surface/biological fluids interface processes is needed for the design of new biocompatible materials. Researchers involved in the different disciplines face up with similar difficulties in describing and predicting phenomena occurring at the interface between solid phases and biological fluids. This review represents an attempt to integrate the knowledge from different research area by focussing on the search for determinants driving the interaction of inorganic surfaces with biological matter.