The Medical clinics of North America
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Med. Clin. North Am. · Sep 2007
ReviewNanotechnology and membrane receptors: focus on angiotensin II receptors.
The use of a functionalized tip to measure the force of the interaction between ligands and receptors by atomic force microscopy has been discussed for more than a decade, and single-molecule recognition using a functionalized tip from processed samples is achievable now. Techniques for detecting and characterizing specific individual molecules from a living cell are still developing and are discussed in this article. Because many diseases have their roots at the molecular scale and are best understood as a malfunctioning of biologic nanomachines, these techniques should find widespread use in basic biomedical research once the remaining barriers are overcome.
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Nanomedicine is the use of nanotechnology to achieve innovative medical breakthroughs. Nanomedicine, with its broad range of ideas, hypotheses, concepts, and undeveloped clinical devices, is still in its early stage. This article outlines present developments and future prospects for the use of nanotechnology techniques in experimental in vivo and in vitro studies and in engineering nanodevices and biosensors for clinical and investigative use n diagnosis and therapy in the fields of genetics, oncology, cardiology, and dermatology. Toxicologic considerations also are discussed.