Applications and hazards associated with carbon nanotubes in biomedical sciences

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are graphene sheets of nanometer size with unique strength and physio-chemical properties. These nano-structures of single and multi-layer graphene sheets have potential to conjugate with various functional groups. Recent advances in life sciences and nanotechnology have revealed that salient features of CNTs enable them to play promising role in diverse areas of health like drug delivery, gene therapy, cancer treatment, artificial implants, tissue regeneration, and neurodegenerative diseases. This review focuses on the comprehensive understanding of applications of CNTs in medicinal therapy. The striking applications associated with CNTs cannot be denied; however, there are certain peculiar potential drawbacks associated with CNTs in form of toxic effects like asthma, lung disorders, renal, and hepatic malfunctioning as well as neural damage. Due to their prime role in medical science, further research should be done on these evolutionary nanoparticles to have more efficacious and safe CNTs for welfare of humanity.

Keywords:

• Carbon nanotubes
• drug delivery
• scaffold
• nanoparticles
• cancer

Disclosure statement

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was obtained for this study.