Tiny nanocarriers have great potential when it comes to highly targeted drug delivery systems and environmental clean-ups. However, before these advantages can be fully used, scientists must develop a method through which nanocarriers can be seen. For now, researchers are dependent on fluorescent dyes or heavy metal, which is attached to label parts of organic nanocarrier structures for exploration. But the major disadvantage of this approach is that it changes the nanocarriers in the process.
A new technique has been created to tackle this problem, which uses chemically sensitive “soft” X-rays, thus providing insight into the nanoworld without causing any change. The new technology is a huge advancement for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery Market as it enables a look into the nanocarrier’s internal structure, environment behavior, and chemistry without the need for labeling. This is the first time scientists have achieved such a feat.
The team displayed the benefits of using the X-ray method through a smart drug delivery nanoparticle and a polysoap nanostructure for capturing the crude oil spilled by ships in the ocean. As per current technology, fluorescent tags are needed to see inside nanocarriers, leading to modified behavior and structure, more so if they are made from carbon-based materials. The new technique proposed facilitates the investigation of inner structure of the nanocarriers, including their concentration and chemical identities. Moreover, all this can be done while they are in their natural state, even in their water environment.
Organic nanocarriers used in drug delivery systems are generally created from carbon-based molecules which either love or are repulsed by the water. The hydrophobic or hydrophilic molecules are bonded together and self-assemble in the water, with the hydrophobic ones hiding inside a shell of the water-loving segments. Hydrophobic drugs also embed themselves into the structure specially designed only to open up and release drugs while they are in the presence of a diseased environment. In this way, nanocarrier technology could also be advantageous for chemotherapy, wherein it will only kill cancer cells without inducing sickness in patients and thus enabling more effective doses.
Although nanocarriers can be created through this approach, researchers have been unable to see the details or even know how much drug stayed inside and how much of it was leaked out. Fluorescent labels can help highlight parts of nanocarriers, even making them twinkle; nonetheless, change occurs in the carriers. This is why researchers have developed the new Soft X-ray. It produced a particular type of light that comes somewhere between ultraviolet light and X-rays, usually used by doctors while they are tending to broken bones. They can absorb almost anything, including the air, so the new technique needs a high vacuum environment to exist. The researchers are confident that their novel technique would help increase the pace and precision in designing and developing similar new technologies.
The researchers are confident that their novel technique would help increase the pace and precision in designing and developing similar new technologies.