Nanomedicine and its potential in diabetes research and practice.

Nanomedicine involves measurement and therapy at the level of 1-100 nm. Although the science is still in its infancy, it has major potential applications in diabetes. These include solving needs such as non-invasive glucose monitoring using implanted nanosensors, with key techniques being fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence lifetime sensing, as well as new nano-encapsulation technologies for sensors such as layer-by-layer (LBL) films. The latter might also achieve better insulin delivery in diabetes by both improved islet encapsulation and oral insulin formulations. An 'artificial nanopancreas' could be an alternative closed-loop insulin delivery system. Other applications of nanomedicine include targeted molecular imaging in vivo (e.g. tissue complications) using quantum dots (QDs) or gold nanoparticles, and single-molecule detection for the study of molecular diversity in diabetes pathology. Copyright 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.