Nanometals are widely being used for diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of medical conditions. Majorly, nanometals are used to facilitate the delivery of drug to targeted site, minimize drug's penetration to healthy tissues, increase drug's bioavailability, and inhibit its uptake and elimination from the blood by reticuloendothelial process. Despite several benefits, use of nanoparticles as drug carriers is also associated with many problems including instability in blood during circulation, undesirable biodistribution, and toxicity. Research has shown that modification in physicochemical properties including shape, size, and surface can develop a nanometal with desired properties but devoid of associated problems. This review introduces the clinical impact of important physicochemical properties of nanometals such as surface modification, shape, and size. Further, the review focuses on evidence reporting the impact of these properties on pharmacokinetics of nanometals with focus on gold, silver, and iron oxide due to their wide use in the medical field.
Keywords: Biodistribution, metabolism, clearance; Nanometals; Pharmacokinetics; Uptake.
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