[Nanomedicine: application of nanotechnology in medicine. Opportunities in neuropsychiatry].

One of the most popular, most intensely expanding borderline of science and technology today is nanomedicine, the utilization of nanotechnology in medicine. The long lists of innovative medicinal and other products, astonishing market and scientometric indicators and the broad scale of promising therapeutic and diagnostic opportunities support the view that nanomedicine heralds the future of medicine. The goals of this review are to provide a comprehensive overview of the field, to compile the nanomedicines and other medical products that are on the market, and to address in more detail the most successful trend, targeted pharmacotherapy. Various nanocarriers (liposomes, micelles, polymer-conjugates, polymerosomes, dendrimers, aptamers and carbon nanotubes) will be presented, along with their targeting ligands, with special emphasis on liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil), the prototype of long-circulating, targeted chemotherapeutic nanomedicine. Nanotechnology holds great promises for the field of neuropsychiatric pharmacotherapy as well, mainly through the introduction of pharmaceutical agents passing the blood-brain barrier. The review presents some of the approaches and examples of these attempts.