Theranostics Aspects of Various Nanoparticles in Veterinary Medicine

Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Oct 24;19(11):3299. doi: 10.3390/ijms19113299.

Abstract

Nanoscience and nanotechnology shows immense interest in various areas of research and applications, including biotechnology, biomedical sciences, nanomedicine, and veterinary medicine. Studies and application of nanotechnology was explored very extensively in the human medical field and also studies undertaken in rodents extensively, still either studies or applications in veterinary medicine is not up to the level when compared to applications to human beings. The application in veterinary medicine and animal production is still relatively innovative. Recently, in the era of health care technologies, Veterinary Medicine also entered into a new phase and incredible transformations. Nanotechnology has tremendous and potential influence not only the way we live, but also on the way that we practice veterinary medicine and increase the safety of domestic animals, production, and income to the farmers through use of nanomaterials. The current status and advancements of nanotechnology is being used to enhance the animal growth promotion, and production. To achieve these, nanoparticles are used as alternative antimicrobial agents to overcome the usage alarming rate of antibiotics, detection of pathogenic bacteria, and also nanoparticles being used as drug delivery agents as new drug and vaccine candidates with improved characteristics and performance, diagnostic, therapeutic, feed additive, nutrient delivery, biocidal agents, reproductive aids, and finally to increase the quality of food using various kinds of functionalized nanoparticles, such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, micellar nanoparticles, and metal nanoparticles. It seems that nanotechnology is ideal for veterinary applications in terms of cost and the availability of resources. The main focus of this review is describes some of the important current and future principal aspects of involvement of nanotechnology in Veterinary Medicine. However, we are not intended to cover the entire scenario of Veterinary Medicine, despite this review is to provide a glimpse at potential important targets of nanotechnology in the field of Veterinary Medicine. Considering the strong potential of the interaction between the nanotechnology and Veterinary Medicine, the aim of this review is to provide a concise description of the advances of nanotechnology in Veterinary Medicine, in terms of their potential application of various kinds of nanoparticles, secondly we discussed role of nanomaterials in animal health and production, and finally we discussed conclusion and future perspectives of nanotechnology in veterinary medicine.

Keywords: animal production; antimicrobial; diagnostic; drug delivery; livestock; nanoparticles.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Nanostructures / chemistry
  • Theranostic Nanomedicine / methods*
  • Veterinary Medicine / methods*