Carbon Nanotubes: Current Perspectives on Diverse Applications in Targeted Drug Delivery and Therapies

Abstract

Current discoveries as well as research findings on various types of carbon nanostructures have inspired research into their utilization in a number of fields. These carbon nanostructures offer uses in pharmacy, medicine and different therapies. One such unique carbon nanostructure includes carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are one-dimensional allotropes of carbon nanostructure that can have a length-to-diameter ratio greater than 1,000,000. After their discovery, CNTs have drawn extensive research attention due to their excellent material properties. Their physical, chemical and electronic properties are excellent and their composites provide great possibilities for enormous nanometer applications. The current study provides a systematic review based on prior literature review and data gathered from various sources. The various research studies from many research labs and organizations were systematically retrieved, collected, compiled and written. The entire collection and compilation of this review concluded the use of CNT approaches and their efficacy and safety for the treatment of various diseases such as brain tumors or cancer via nanotechnology-based drug delivery, phototherapy, gene therapy, antiviral therapy, antifungal therapy, antibacterial therapy and other biomedical applications. The current review covers diverse applications of CNTs in designing a range of targeted drug delivery systems and application for various therapies. It concludes with a discussion on how CNTs based medicines can expand in the future.

“Smart” drug delivery: A window to future of translational medicine

“…CNTs have attracted incredible interest in the biomedical field due both to their promising properties (such as high surface area, needle-like structure, considerable strength, flexible interaction with drug cargo, high drug loading capacity, outstanding optical and electrical features, high stability, biocompatibility, and ability to release therapeutic agents at targeted sites) and negative properties (most notably, lack of biodegradability and toxicity) ( Alshehri et al, 2016 ; Costa et al, 2016 ; Singh et al, 2016 ; Azqhandi et al, 2017 ). CNTs are one-dimensional carbon allotropes with a nanostructure with a length-to-diameter ratio greater than one million that are made by rolling a thick sheet of graphene into a smooth cylinder with a diameter on the order of a nanometre (nm) ( Rahamathulla et al, 2021 ). CNT can be fabricated in a number of ways, including rolling up a single layer of graphene sheet (single-walled CNT; SWCNT) or rolling up many layers to form concentric cylinders (multiwalled CNT; MWNT) ( Rahamathulla et al, 2021 ).…”

Carbon Nanomaterials (CNMs) and Enzymes: From Nanozymes to CNM-Enzyme Conjugates and Biodegradation

“…This trend could be related to concerns over CNTs' toxicity, as suggested by the fact that scientific documents on this topic peaked at nearly 300 in 2015, and since then held steady. However, given their high innovation potential in medicine [212,213], and the high number of variables that affect their biocompatibility [214,215], alarming generalizations to ban their use are best avoided [216]. In comparison to CNTs and G, all the other CNMs lagged behind, each one reaching far less than 100 in total-with two exceptions-and representing today a missed opportunity for research.…”

Cancer Targeting and Diagnosis: Recent Trends with Carbon Nanotubes

“…Additionally, pH is another important factor that governs drug-loading capacities, as it can have significant effects on the ionization degree and the free site for adsorbents. Due to having large surface areas, SWCNTs have been shown to exhibit a higher drug loading capacity in comparison to MWCNTs [72], whereas, in comparison to long CNTs, the smaller of the two shows a higher loading capacity achieved in less time [73]. Moreover, aromatic-content-carrying peptides show a higher binding affinity to SWCNTs due to their interaction with the π electrons of SWCNTs [74].…”