NANOPSYCHIATRY

Nanomedicine is defined as the area using nanotechnology’s concepts for the benefit of human beings’ health and well-being. The use of the nanotechnology in the development of new drugs has had in the last years a very widespread presence in the pharmaceutical industry. Nanomedicine research has expanded greatly in the last decade. However, very little data concerning research and development in psychiatry or mental health has yet been published. The field of nanopsychiatry will emerge along with alternative interventions for depression and gene therapy for depression. ‘Nanopsychiatry’ is a novel term that is used to emphasize the importance of combining psychiatry with nanomedicine.

Nanoparticles are prepared with organic polymers (organic nanoparticles) and/or inorganic elements (inorganic nanoparticles). Application of nanomaterials as drug carriers in psychiatry has potentially numerous advantages, primarily in terms of the increased therapeutic efficiency of the medicament, and reduction of toxicity. Several research efforts have already been focused on the synthesis of antipsychotic and antidepressant nano-based drug delivery systems. Many of these nanoparticle systems have been successfully tested both in in vitro conditions and on animal experimental models.

Nanoparticles, sized approximately between 1 and 100 nanometers, have in some circumstances the ability to pass through blood-brain barrier. Recently, some researchers have suggested that nanoparticles could be used in various psychiatric diseases. Schizophrenia, endogenous depression, bipolar disorder, and essentially, most of the disorders today treated with antipsychotic and/or anti-depressive medications are potential candidates for nanotherapy. Among nanomedicine, nanopsychiatry specifically deals with the potential role of nanotechnology in solving psychiatry diseases problems.