ABSTRACT
Copolymer Blend ............................................................................................................... 167 8.5 Characterization of Trastuzumab-Conjugated Nanoparticles .................................... 168
8.5.1 Size and Size Distribution .................................................................................... 168 8.5.2 Surface Morphology .............................................................................................. 169 8.5.3 Surface Charge ....................................................................................................... 169 8.5.4 Drug Encapsulation Ef‡ciency ............................................................................ 170 8.5.5 Surface Chemistry ................................................................................................. 170 8.5.6 In Vitro Docetaxel-Release Kinetics .................................................................... 171
Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary ‡eld and can be de‡ned as a science and engineering discipline that involves the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of materials and devices whose smallest functional organization in at least one dimension is on the nanometer scale.1 Nanotechnology opens the door to a new generation of techniques and devices for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. For example, intracellular imaging can be achieved with the aid of nanotechnology, in which multicolor Žuorescence imaging is realized by attaching imaging agents such as semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) to selected molecules, or coating the QDs with a layer of amphiphilic molecules. Moreover, nanoparticles with a drug encapsulated in a polymer matrix can realize a controlled and sustained manner for drug delivery. Controlling the localization of nanoparticles to the diseased cells by modi‡cation of the nanoparticle surface with targeting moieties is now gaining great interest in the ‡eld of nanomedicine. Not only can anticancer drugs be incorporated in the nanoparticles to kill the cancer cells, but diagnostic agents as well, which can be utilized to image the presence of cancer cells. The latter will be powerful in detecting the development of cancer at very early stages. This, in turn, promises better and more effective treatment for cancer diseases than ever before.
