Development of nanotoxicology: implications for drug delivery and medical devices

Current nanotoxicology research suffers from suboptimal models, lack of correlations, variability within protocols, deficits in both material purity and physicochemical characterization. Reliable nanomaterial toxicity and mechanistic insights are required for health and toxicity risk assessments. Much toxicological data is inconclusive in designating whether nanomaterials for drug delivery and medical device implants are truly safe. A critique is presented to analyze the interface between toxicology and nanopharmaceuticals. Deficiencies of existing practices in toxicology are reviewed and useful emerging techniques (e.g., lab-on-a-chip, tissue engineering, atomic force microscopy, high-content analysis) are highlighted. Cross-fertilization between disciplines will aid development of biocompatible delivery and implant platforms while improvements are being suggested for better translation of nanotoxicology.