In a recent review, the potentiality of graphene-based nanomaterials for biomedical application has been reported, with a particular focus on the potential treatments of disease in central nervous system. The development of graphene-based nanomaterials in medicine is supported by several properties of graphene, mainly related to its chemical structure of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal matrix that confers specific mechanical, electrochemical, and optical properties.
In particular, graphene-based nanomaterials are studied as nanocarriers as their surface area allows chemical modifications for the conjugation of the nanomaterial with several molecules of interest.
The functionalization with molecules such as polymers and ligands could help to improve biocompatibility and hydrophilicity properties of the formulation; moreover drugs could also be loaded on the graphene-based nanomaterial via non-covalent functionalization. Some works reported the application of this strategy for brain cancer therapy both for adult and children, taking advantage of graphene oxide due to its ability to modulate neuronal activity and to be functionalized for controlling drugs release. There are some works also regarding the use of graphene oxide as drug delivery system for Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, where for example cognitive memory deficits were ameliorated and brain glial activation were reduced thanks to the combination between the effects of the nanomaterial and the drugs.
Although promising, the efficacy of graphene-based nanomaterials treatments will require to be validated in the clinic, in adult and pediatric population.
