NANOSCALE DIAGNOSTICS AND IMAGING: DENDRIMER NANOTECHNOLOGIES FOR MEDICAL IMAGING

摘要

Dendrimer are versatile structures that allow the use of nanometer size, surface chemistry, surface attachment, and encapsulation for extension of the technology to both passive and active targeting in medical applications. An emerging use for dendrimers is as an enabling platform for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology. The characteristics afforded by these nanostructures provide superior diagnostic capabilities resulting in advanced diagnostics for tumors and other regions such as deep lymph nodes and vessels where detection and classification of abnormalities are crucial. Bringing these materials to clinical reality requires defining and optimizing the basic structures and understanding the quality and consistency of these dendritic materials to the level required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advancement to human clinical trials.