ABSTRACT
Materials that are nanoscale in size (1 nm or 10–9 m or one billionth of a metre) in any of its dimensions come under the category of nanomaterial, and the study and application of the substances and phenomenon with one or more dimensions between 1 nm to 100 nm is known as nanotechnology (Maynard 2007; Nikalje 2015). Nanotechnology in combination with biotechnology results in the outstandingly innovative area of nanobiotechnology (Banerji, Pramanik, Pal, et al. 2013; Maity et al. 2013; Pramanik et al. 2017; Pramanik, Sreedharan, et al. 2018; Banerji et al. 2012; H. Singh et al. 2019; Fakruddin, Hossain, and Afroz 2012). The current scenario of therapeutic (Banerji, Pramanik, Sanphui, et al. 2013; H. Singh et al. 2018; Hu et al. 2017; Mukherjee and Patra 2016), diagnostic (Agarwalla et al. 2018; Ashoka et al. 2020; H. Wang et al. 2015; Digesu et al. 2016) and theranostics (R. Tiwari, Shinde, et al. 2021; Gobbo et al. 2015; Swierczewska et al. 2016) has been majorly influenced by the field of nanobiotechnology (H. Singh et al. 2020). The increasing burden on human health with various chronic diseases increases the need for innovative research in the field of diagnosis, therapy and theranostics (Seneca et al. 2020; Kandoth et al. 2021; Sreedharan et al. 2021). This area of research in medicine mainly relies on nanotechnology and has great advantages over conventional techniques as they are small in size, helpful in the early detection of disease, repair tissue inside the body and deliver drugs. Drug delivery by classic methods has a lot of shortcomings such as nonspecific targeting, degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, low bioavailability, insolubility, etc. (Pramanik, Seneca, et al. 2018; Slenders et al. 2018). This draws the attention to the development of some novel drug delivery systems and nanocarriers that can be considered impeccable in this field (Pramanik and Das 2021). Nanocarriers are colloidal drug carrier systems used as a transportation module to deliver drugs to their site of action for therapy, diagnosis and theranostics. They have been extensively investigated in the past few decades. By virtue of their peculiar characteristics such as a high surface area-to-volume ratio, improved pharmacokinetics and biodistribution, improved stability (Raksha et al. 2022) and solubility (Kalepu and Nekkanti 2015), low toxicity (Dobrovolskaia and McNeil 2015; Choudhary et al. 2022) and controlled drug release, nanocarriers can be used as drug delivery systems (DDS). In the world of conventional medicine, nanocarriers mark an enormous boom for drug delivery (Jana et al. 2022; R. Tiwari, Banerjee, et al. 2021; K. Tiwari et al. 2022; Pasha et al. 2022). The problem of drug solubility can be resolved with the help of these nanocarriers; moreover, they increase bioavailability, target specific, protect sensitive drugs and minimize side effects without losing their activity (Dey et al. 2022; Fairbanks et al. 2021; Si et al. 2018). The critical function of the carrier is to perpetuate the drug action in vivo and preserve its optimal concentration at the targeted site (Si et al. 2019).
