Nanotechnology and its Application in Modern Veterinary Science
Satya Prakash Yadav*, Himalaya Bhardwaj, Amrita Behera
Bihar Veterinary College, Bihar Animal Sciences University, Patna, Bihar.
*Corresponding author: drsatya202118@gmail.com
Introduction
The ability to calculate, function, and organize materials at the microscopic level is referred to as nanotechnology. The scale is commonly used to describe materials with a minimum size of 1 nm, but it can also apply to materials in the size range of 1 to 100 nm. It is not limited to a specific sector; rather, it is an enabling collection of technologies, which cross all sectors of activity and scientific disciplines
Utilizing the ideas and methods of the nanoscale, nanotechnology seeks to comprehend and modify biosystems, which rely on biological ideas and materials for creating novel nanoscale systems and devices. Large active surfaces, and readily controlled surface chemistry that enables binding to small molecular medicines, imaging labels, and ligands including antibodies, peptides, and nucleic acids are just a few of the characteristics that set nanoparticles apart from bulk materials. Due to their small size, they can only interact with other cells inside and outside of the cell, such as by extravasation through endothelial cells and enhanced permeability and retention in tumor tissues.
It is anticipated that in the twenty-first century, nanotechnology will yield numerous innovations that will improve clinical veterinary medicine and have the power to update animal welfare, veterinary care, and other facets of animal production. Among many other applications, veterinary nanotechnology will improve diagnostic and treatment delivery systems, offer new tools for molecular and cellular breeding, track animals from birth to the dinner table, improve animal nutrition scenarios including nutrient uptake and use, adjust animal waste as it is expelled from livestock, detect pathogens, and much more.
Classifications of nanoparticles
Nanoparticles are scale-sized microscopic particles of 1nm to 100nm. Over the past few decades, various types of particles have been produced, including nanocrystals, polymers, dendrimers, silica oxides, carbon, metal oxides, lipids, and quantum dots.
based on different elements and an expanding range of recently created materials. Some of the widely used nanoparticles were fullerenes, quantum dots, liposomes, magnetic nanoparticles, nanopores, and nanoshells.
Applications of nanotechnology in veterinary science
Controlled delivery methods, contamination detection, the creation of nanoscale medications, and the development of molecular and cellular biology nanodevices are all made possible by nanotechnology. It will be crucial for disease control through the use of intelligent medication delivery systems, and it will play a significant role in veterinary care, animal welfare, and other animal production fields.
The main nanotechnological techniques used in veterinary research have been briefly discussed below
Nanovaccines
A novel approach to the vaccination process is the nanovaccine. Nanovaccines are more effective than conventional vaccinations and can boost the immune system on both a humoral and cellular level. They have the potential to direct the immune system’s defenses against microorganisms and stop illnesses and infections from spreading. Today’s vaccination technique substitutes far safer synthetic and recombinant candidates for the previous practice of using live and dead organisms. A designed adjuvant that boosts immunogenicity is necessary because these novel vaccination candidates on their own are frequently inadequately immunogenic and prone to degradation.
Nanopharmacuetics
Compared to the other fields of veterinary medicine, pharmacology, and nanophamaceuticals are at the forefront of what nanotechnology may do. The efficiency of nanoparticles in improving pharmacokinetics, lowering undesirable side effects, and optimizing transmission to disease locations has been demonstrated by several nano-drug delivery methods. Medications can be attached to a sheet of nanoparticles, dissolved in a hydrophobic nucleus, encased in vesicles, or dispersed as gels. Drug delivery agents for small molecules, peptides, and oligonucleotides have been transported using a variety of nanoparticle-based delivery systems, such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, ceramic-containing capsules, micelles, and others.
Animal breeding and reproduction
Nanotechnology has begun to blossom in the fields of reproduction and reproduction. Such nanotechnology-based research studies animal reproduction with objectives to develop nano-bio sensors for physiological or modified detection of the reproductive status, and use atomic force microscopy and related scanning microscopy techniques to describe the nanoscale characteristics of gamete cells. Breeding management is a costly and time-consuming problem for dairy farmers and pig farmers. One approach being tested now is a nanotube inserted under the skin to provide real-time monitoring of changes in blood estradiol levels. Furthermore, nanotechnology tools like bioanalytic nano-sensors, nanoparticles, and microfluidics can help unravel even more mysteries surrounding the development, reproduction, and health of animals as well as the treatment and prevention of illness.
Disease diagnostics
In veterinary medicine, it can take several days, weeks, or even months to diagnose a condition, particularly when it’s a chronic illness with no outward signs or symptoms. Therefore, it’s possible that an infection had spread by then and the herd needed to be wiped off.
Since nanotechnology functions on the same scale as a virus or other disease-infecting particle, it may be identified and eliminated at a very early stage. Hence, nanotechnology, for sensitive clinical diagnosis can be a successful tool. The application of nanotechnology tools to the study of animal diseases or as animal models for the diagnosis of human diseases is noteworthy in the context of one health concept. According to recent research, quantum dots could be used for in vivo imaging in tiny animal models.
Emission of Single Photons Nuclear medicine imaging modalities like Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography (SPECT) offer metabolic and functional information in addition to anatomical information. In contrast, CT and MRI solely provide anatomical information.
