Silicon Quantum dots: Promising theranostic probes for the future.

Silicon Quantum dots: Promising theranostic probes for the future. Curr Drug Targets. 2019 Apr 05;: Authors: Sivasankarapillai VS, Jose J, Shanavas MS, Marathakam A, Uddin MS, Mathew B Abstract Nanotechnology has emerged as one of the leading research areas involving nanoscale manipulation of atoms and molecules. During the past decade, the growth of nanotechnology has been one of the most important developments taken place in the biomedical field. The new generation nanomaterials like Quantum dots are gaining much importance. Also, there is a growing interest in the development of nano-theranostics platforms in medical diagnostics, biomedical imaging, drug delivery etc. Quantum dots are also known as nanoscale semiconductor crystals, with unique electronic and optical properties. Recently silicon quantum dots are being studied extensively due to its less-toxic, inert nature and ease of surface modification. The silicon quantum dots (2-10nm) are comparatively stable, having optical properties of silicon nanocrystals. This review focus on silicon quantum dots and its various biomedical applications like drug delivery regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Also, the processes involved in its modification for various biomedical applications along with the future aspects are discussed. PMID: 30961492 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Drug Targets - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Curr Drug Targets Source Type: research