Physiological and clinical considerations of drug delivery systems containing carbon nanotubes and graphene

Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing field of research in biomaterials, medicine, and pharmacy for creating novel drug delivery systems. The understanding of nanotechnology in biological applications is still insufficient. Many years ago, the nanotechnology entered medicine and made a massive progress especially in drug delivery; the principle depends on ultra-small particles that have the ability to break into the cellular compartments. These nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes (CNT, (1D)), graphene or graphene oxide (2D), and Fullerene (0D) used as vehicles to produce efficient therapy by means of carrying drug molecules due to their unique properties, including, noticeable cell membrane permeation, high drug loading capacity, and mostly less to no systemic toxicity. The intrinsic cytotoxicity of free drug molecules affect their pharmacological profile and their therapeutic efficacy, due to an act of changing in physical location, therefore diminishing their pharmacological progression. This chapter focuses on understanding the physiological and clinical issues concerning the shape, surface chemistry, and dimensionality of Nano-sized particles. Moreover, the chapter will discuss the cellular paradigm (in vitro and in vivo) in order to have a complete overview of the applicability of these engineered nanoparticles.