Nanotechnology: A challenge in health care

Nanotechnology, the manipulation and utilization of materials at nanoscale, is expected to be critical driver of economic growth and development in this century. In recent years, nanoscale sciences and engineering has provided new avenues for engineering materials with macromolecular and even down to molecular scale precision. The resultant biomaterials have been demonstrated to have enhanced properties and applicability, and these materials are expected to be enabling technologies in successful development and application of nanomedicine. Access to nanotechnology has offered a completely new perspective to material scientist, to mimic different types of extra cellular assembly, such as nanofibers, well defined diameters with surface morphologies, nanowires, nanoguides, nanospheres, nano "trees"(e. g. dendrimers), nanocomposites and other macromolecular structures. Nanomedicine may be defined as the monitoring, repair, construction and control of human biological systems at molecular level, using engineered nanodevices and nanostructures. The high cost, together with a limited space for significant economies of scale in the mass production of tissue engineered products has hindered widespread clinical application. In addition, presently available tissue engineered products still share some of the concepts of substitution medicine, where a laboratory grown "spare part" is implanted in the body to compensate for lost tissue: By building pioneering achievements in tissue engineering, advanced therapies in the regeneration of pathological tissues to treat, modify and prevent disabling chronic disorders such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, diseases of cardiovascular and central nervous system. The vision for nano-assisted regenerative medicine is the development of cost-effective disease-modifying therapies that will allow for in situ tissue regeneration. This manuscript summarizes the recent developments in utilizing electrospun nanofibers for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications.