From The Desk of Editor

Volume 8 Issue 3 March, 2018

“Nanotechnology in Pychiatry”

“Nanomedicine” is the science and technology of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease and traumatic injury, of relieving pain, and of preserving and improving human health, using nanoscale structured materials, biotechnology, and genetic engineering, and eventually complex machine systems and nanorobots

The vision of nanotechnology introduced in 1959 by late Nobel Physicist Richard P Faynman

K Eric Drexler published “Engines of Creation”, a book to popularize the potential of molecular nanotechnology.

There are some difficulties in psychopharmacology like drugs have to pass the blood-brain barrier and then to be internalized by targeted cells. Nanoparticles could increase drugs bioavailability and pharmacokinetics, especially improving safety and efficacy of psychotropic drugs. Liposomes, nanosomes, nanoparticle polymers, nanobubbles are some examples of this targeted drug delivery which will prevent other side-effects of psychotropics. Dendrimers have
found applications in transdermal drug delivery systems. Nanotechnology provides technical assistance to in vivo imaging through metabolome analysis of central nervous system. Putting nanosponges into the blood stream and they are soaking up toxic drug molecules to leading to resolution of the toxicity. Therapies that involve the manipulation of individual genes, or the molecular pathways that influence their expression, are increasingly being investigated as an
option for treating diseases by using nanorobots that can “walk” and carry out repairs inside cell components. Nanotechnologies and quantum physics could be used to create models of artificial intelligence and mental illnesses

A major drawback of nanomedicine is that nanoparticles have no common feature other than their size. Hence, each particle has to be assessed individually. Also, changes in shape and size can lead to varied physical and chemical interactions- a substance that is non-toxic at 100nm can become toxic at 1 nm or vice-versa.

Nanotechnology has tremendous potential, but social issues of public acceptance, ethics, regulation, and human safety must be addressed before molecular nanotechnology can be seen as the possibility of providing high quality care.