Abstract. In this Chapter, recent results about studies of interactions between piezoelectric nanoparticles and living systems will be discussed. As extremely innovative materials, great importance is devoted to the investigations of their stabilisation in physiological environments and to their biocompatibility. Applications as drug carriers and nanovectors will be thereafter described, and special attention will be dedicated to tissue engineering applications. Finally, preliminary results achieved by our group on "wireless" cell stimulation will be approached.
IntroductionNanotechnology refers to the research and technology development at atomic, molecular and macromolecular scales, which leads to the controlled manipulation and study of structures and devices with length scales in the range of 1-100 nm [1].In the latest two decades, the research on nanotechnology has grown explosively with over 300,000 publications in the field of nanosciences according to ISI Web of Science. Among these spectacular developments, a new emerging field that combines nanotechnology and biotechnology -nanobiotechnology -is receiving a growing attention [2]. Nanostructured materials own unique properties which are of great interest for their potential applications as biomaterials, such as the large "surface-area to volume" ratio. Since life itself, fundamentally, is a collection of nanoscale processes occurring within cells [3], it is unavoidable and necessary to understand the impacts of the presence of nanomaterials inside the cells when one explores advantages and promises of nanomaterials for biomedical applications.In fact, it has been demonstrated that nanomaterials can interact both positively and negatively with different biological systems. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), for