Introduction to Nanoparticles and Nanocarriers

This chapter outlines the introduction of nanoparticles and nanocarriers, within which it delineates their classification into various categories of polymeric nanoparticles, metal nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, inorganic nanocarriers, dendrimers, vesicular carriers, micelles, and a lot more, their synthesis techniques such as physical, chemical and biological, and their application in the medical sector. The chapter also focuses on various challenges faced by these nanocarrier systems in nanomedicine as well as their advantages over conventional drug delivery. Overall, this chapter is a comprehensive compilation of available information on recent advances in the field of nanomedicine through an elucidation of nanoparticles and nanocarrier systems. During the last decade, surplus new nano-based strategies for improved drug delivery and nanocarriers centered therapeutic approaches have been adopted for oral drug delivery, pulmonary drug delivery, cutaneous drug delivery, drug delivery into the brain, for cardiovascular diseases, intracellular targeting, gene delivery, protein delivery, insulin delivery, anticancer targeting and many more. Currently, nanoparticleintegrated diagnosis and imaging have been in abundant use seeing an urgent need for early detection and diagnosis of various lethal diseases.