Structural and component mining of nails using bioengineering techniques

Abstract

The human nail is one of the challenging membranes for the scientists to target and to improve the clinical efficacy of ungual formulations. The understanding of nail physiology, impact of hydration on its properties and presence of trace elements in nails as biomarkers has been explored by various researchers in clinical studies. Despite the importance of biophysical techniques for the assessment of structure and physiology of nail, minimum literature analyses biophysical, biochemical and bioanalytical approaches. However, nowadays scientists in bioengineering field are keen in developing non-invasive, reliable and reproducible techniques for the assessment of different anatomical and functional parameters of nails for testing of ungual products.