Nanomedicine applications in women's health: state of the art

Abstract

State-of-the-art applications of nanomedicine have the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of a range of conditions and diseases affecting women’s health. In this review, we provide a synopsis of potential applications of nanomedicine in some of the most dominant fields of women’s health: mental health, sexual health, reproductive medicine, oncology, menopause-related conditions and dementia. We explore published studies arising from in vitro and in vivo experiments, and clinical trials where available, to reveal novel and highly promising therapeutic applications of nanomedicine in these fields. For the first time, we summarize the growing body of evidence relating to the use of nanomaterials as experimental tools for the detection, prevention, and treatment of significant diseases and conditions across the life course of a cisgender woman, from puberty to menopause; revealing the far-reaching and desirable theoretical impact of nanomedicine across different medical disciplines. We also present an overview of potential concerns regarding the therapeutic applications of nanomedicine and the factors currently restricting the growth of applied nanomedicine.

Advances in Nano-Enabled Platforms for the Treatment of Depression

“…Overall, the data showed that SLNs can be used to improve the efficacy of antidepressants [ 68 ]. In another research study where the antidepressant, duloxetine was encapsulated in SLNs, the oral bioavailability of the drug was improved owing to reduced first-pass metabolism of the duloxetine-SLN system when compared with duloxetine only [ 69 ]. The drug–nanoparticle formulation was stable under acidic media and it displayed improved pharmacological properties in vivo.…”

The Potential of Soy Isoflavones (Glycine max) and Magnetic Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles as Osteoporosis Therapy for Menopausal Women

“…Magnetic nanoparticles are ever used in nanostructured bisphosphonate (Bis)-conjugated iron (II, III) oxide (Fe3O4), while hydroxyapatite nanoparticles are used in nanostructured risedronate/ zinchydroxyapatite. 25 A nanoparticle is a term for a particle that has a size of less than 100 nm. 26 The bone structure is composed of nano-sized components that using a nanoparticle to target this site is no longer an impossible mission.…”

Understanding the mechanisms of silica nanoparticles for nanomedicine

“…Nanomedicine is the application of the principles and methods of nanoscience and technology to medicine, aimed at developing more sensitive and rapid medical methods and understanding the processes and mechanisms of life activities at the more micro or nano level (Albanese, Tang, & Chan, 2012; Bregoli et al, 2016; Emerich, 2005; Lloyd‐Parry, Downing, Aleisaei, Jones, & Coward, 2018). Worldwide it is evident that there is increasing emphasis on biomedical applications of a wide range of nanomaterials including silica nanoparticles (SNPs), superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, and graphene and metal organic frameworks (Cheng, Deng, Lin, Cai, & Zink, 2019; Darweesh, Ayoub, & Nazzal, 2019; Rive et al, 2019; Yan et al, 2019; Zhong, Kankala, Wang, & Chen, 2019).…”