医学矿物学探索了天然矿物质与细胞等生物体之间的相互作用,组织,和器官,并开发药物递送中的治疗和诊断应用,医疗器械,和医疗材料。已经认识到许多矿物质(尤其是粘土)具有药理活性和治疗潜力。霍洛石粘土(中药名称:赤石之),表现为一维硅酸铝纳米管(埃洛石纳米管,HNT),在止血中获得了应用,伤口修复,胃肠道疾病,组织工程,检测和传感,化妆品,和日用化学品配方。HNTs的各种生物医学应用来自中空管状结构,机械强度高,良好的生物相容性,生物活性,和独特的表面特性。这种天然纳米材料是安全的,大量可用,并且可以用环境安全的绿色化学方法处理。这篇综述描述了HNTs相对于生物活性的结构和物理化学性质。我们讨论表面积,孔隙度和表面缺陷,亲水性,内外表面的异质性和电荷,以及生物安全。本文为这种细管纳米粘土的开发及其在临床诊断和治疗中的先进生物医学应用提供了全面的指导。
Medical mineralogy explores the interactions between natural minerals and living organisms such as cells, tissues, and organs and develops therapeutic and diagnostic applications in drug delivery, medical devices, and healthcare materials. Many minerals (especially clays) have been recognized for pharmacological activities and therapeutic potential. Halloysite clay (Chinese medicine name: Chishizhi), manifested as one-dimensional aluminum silicate nanotubes (halloysite nanotubes, HNTs), has gained applications in hemostasis, wound repair, gastrointestinal diseases, tissue engineering, detection and sensing, cosmetics, and daily chemicals formulations. Various biomedical applications of HNTs are derived from hollow tubular structures, high mechanical strength, good biocompatibility, bioactivity, and unique surface characteristics. This natural nanomaterial is safe, abundantly available, and may be processed with environmentally safe green chemistry methods. This review describes the structure and physicochemical properties of HNTs relative to bioactivity. We discuss surface area, porosity and surface defects, hydrophilicity, heterogeneity and charge of external and internal surfaces, as well as biosafety. The paper provides comprehensive guidance for the development of this tubule nanoclay and its advanced biomedical applications for clinical diagnosis and therapy.