Introduction: Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia that is expected to affect many elderly people in the future. The use of gold nanoparticles, due to their unique properties at the nanometer level, is a promising tool that directly enters the brain, bypasses the blood-brain barrier, and improves the efficiency and accuracy of treatment. Green nanotechnology seems to be the most useful method in synthesis and treatment. In this article, comprehensive explanations about Alzheimer's pathogenesis, types of nanoparticles, challenges facing nanomedicine and ways to overcome them are presented.
Methods: 44 papers were found through Google Scholar by searching about the green nanotechnology and Alzheimer’s disease. 25 papers related to this topic of gold nanoparticles and the leading factors to Alzheimer’s disease were separated. The methods for synthesis gold nanoparticles and synthesis process challenges in treatment were extracted.
Results: Until now, the causative factors of AD are not fully understood. A major focus for drug discovery efforts has been to interfere with the amyloid pathway, which involves preventing the production and aggregation or enhancing the removal of Aβ peptides. No anti-amyloid drugs for the treatment of AD have yet reached the market. The use of gold nanoparticles is a promising tool due to their unique properties at the nanometer level. Gold nanoparticles act as drug delivery platforms and deliver therapeutic agents directly into the brain, improving the efficacy and accuracy of treatment and reducing side effects in healthy tissues. The potential to cross the BBB and target the accumulation of amyloid and tau proteins, which are hallmarks of AD pathology, is one of the advantages of nanodrug delivery systems. Despite the exciting potential of gold nanoparticles, it is important to address the challenges and issues associated with their use in the medical field before they can be widely applied in clinical settings. It is important to ensure the safety, efficacy and biocompatibility of these nanomaterials in the field of the central nervous system. Since there is little and sometimes conflicting information about their use in this field, detailed preclinical and clinical studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of these strategies in patients. Limited knowledge of the physiological and pathological mechanisms contributing to AD also hinders the development of effective nanomaterial-based therapies. It is expected that nanomaterial-based therapies will play a greater role in the treatment of AD, and more research will be conducted to understand the underlying biological mechanisms of this disease.
It is very important that designed nanomaterials can remain in tissues and organs for the required amount and duration to have sufficient effects on cells for therapeutic and bioimaging purposes. Since it is not trivial to control the morphology, size, shape and distribution of nanoparticles, these physical properties may lead to different behavior of nanosystems in in vitro approaches compared to in vivo analysis. Studies. More in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to determine the biodistribution effects of gold nanoparticles and their role in nanotoxicity. Substantial animal studies are needed to provide insight into dose limitations and establish safe concentrations of gold nanoparticles for in vivo application. Most researches have shown that the cytotoxicity of gold nanoparticles strongly depends on their size and shape. Cytotoxicity has been found to be inversely related to size.
Conclusion: Future research should focus on removing BBB-related barriers and improving drug delivery systems, advancing the study of nanomedicine and paving the way for more effective treatments for AD and other CNS disorders. Limiting the number of eligible patients for certain nanoparticle-based therapies may reduce the size of the potential market. At the same time, the cost of nanoparticle-based therapies can be high if only a certain population group can implement them. The need for standardization in the production and determination of properties of nanomaterials is another challenge. For example, it may be challenging to compare the results of different studies or to properly evaluate the performance of different types of nanoparticles because there are currently no universally accepted standards for characterization and quality control of nanomaterials.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Nanobiotechnology, biotechnology, green nanotechnology, gold nanoparticles