The nanosciences are a rapidly expanding field of research with a wide applicability to all areas of health. They encompass a variety of technologies ranging from particles to networks and nanostructures. For example, nanoparticles have been proposed to be suitable carriers of therapeutic agents whilst nanostructures provide suitable platforms for sub-micro bioengineering. However, understanding the importance of nanoscience and technology is somewhat problematical as a great deal of text can be rather technical in nature with little consideration to the novice. In this collection of books on Nanoscience Applied to Health and Medicine we aim to disseminate the information in a readable way by having unique sections for the novice and expert alike. This enables the reader to transfer their knowledge base from one discipline to another or from one academic level to another.
The field of nanomedicine has the potential to facilitate novel and contemporary interventions that may yield signifi cant improvements in the health outcomes of patients experiencing pathology related to the nervous system. A fundamental problem for those working in this area is the availability of contemporary, relevant and applied information.
Each chapter has an abstract, key facts, applications to other areas of health and disease and a “mini-dictionary” of key terms and phrases within each chapter. Finally, each chapter has a series of summary points. In this book Nanomedicine and the nervous system we focus on nanomedicine and naontechnology as applied to the nervous system which include the brain and peripheral nervous system. We cover an introduction to the field, general aspects, safety of nanostructures, nanoparticle-based immunoassays, carbon nanofiber microbrush arrays, nanoelectrode arrays, protein nanoassemblies, nanoparticle-assisted laser desorption/ionization (nano-paldi)-based imaging, nanomaterials and ion channels, nanobiomolecular engineering, alpha-synuclein nanostructures, nanomaterials for stem cell imaging, neuronal performance, treatment of stroke and spinal cord injury, sirna and nanoparticles, transferrin anchored nanoparticles, lipid nanostructures, nanocarriers and brain tumours, electrospinning of nanofibres, nanofi ber scaffolds, nanoparticle-iron chelator conjugates and toxicological profiles of carbon nanotubes.
