Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology

Nanotechnology has enormous potential for development of veterinary medicine, animal health and production. Livestock disease diagnostics and therapeutics in search of improvement have moved from the traditional methods to molecular and more recently to nanotechnology. Materials at nanoscale show varied property and can easily interact with biomolecules at a similar scale. Nanoparticles and nanomaterials have been used in diagnostics, therapeutics and research in terms of pathogen detection, biotagging, antimicrobial property, drug delivery systems and bio-manipulation. Many metals and metal oxides have antimicrobial property and are being used since the ancient times. Nanoparticles like nanotubes, dendrimers, fullerenes, liposomes, and nanopolymers are commonly used for drug delivery and targeting, most useful in cancer therapy. Biotagging using quantum dots for immunoassays produce a rainbow of colours based on the size of dots and is also resistant to photobleaching. Magnetic nanoparticle for biomanipulation, advanced methods like nano sequencing and nano array, nanotechnology for animal breeding management are also being explored. These advances in nanosciences will have great impact on veterinary diagnostics, therapeutics and research, but nanomaterial safety is a worldwide concern, and studies must be conducted to better understand the nano interactions with organisms and environment and biomolecules.