Chapter 1: Biomedical Applications of Nanostructured Polymeric Materials

Abstract

Nanostructured polymeric materials have been extensively used in different areas of biomedicine. They are polymeric materials in nanometer scale or composites containing polymeric nanomaterials. In particular, improvements in polymer-correlated nanomaterials have brought about a groundbreaking change to the fields of biomedicine and innovative biomaterials. The materials which belong to this group of nanostructured polymeric materials are a wide variety of nanoparticles, nanocapsules, nanogels, nanofibers, nanocomposites, micelles, dendrimers, and polymersomes. They can be used in controlled and targeted drug delivery, bioimaging, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. This chapter addresses issues regarding nanostructured polymeric materials, their production methods, characterizations, and biomedical applications.