Recent Development of Metal Nanoparticles for Angiogenesis Study and Their Therapeutic Applications

Angiogenesis is a crucial biological process of development of blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature, which helps in several physiological functions including embryonic development, hair growth, ovulation, menstruation, tissue repair, and regeneration. Contrastingly, it is also imperative in various pathological conditions like cardiovascular/ischemic diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, cancers, ocular/retinal diseases, and others. These disease conditions are often treated by manipulating angiogenesis using different pro-angiogenic or antiangiogenic factors/molecules through either promoting or inhibiting this complex process, respectively. However, these conventional angiogenic treatment strategies fall short in attaining the desired therapeutic effect due to several limitations including low bioavailability, rapid clearance, high cost, nonspecificity, drug resistance and side effects. Therefore, it is high time for the advancement of different pro- and antiangiogenic materials that could overcome aforesaid limitations, followed by their effective use for the therapy of angiogenesis related diseases. Recently, nanotechnology has drastically advanced in various areas of biology and medicine including therapeutic angiogenesis. Globally, many research groups including ours explored various inorganic metal nanomaterials that could efficiently manipulate the angiogenesis process either by augmenting or inhibiting it. The extensive investigation of the mechanisms underlying nanomaterials-mediated manipulation of angiogenesis is also well-documented. In the present review article, we intend to introduce the recent developments of inorganic nanomedicine manipulating angiogenesis with major focus on pro-angiogenic nanomaterials and their therapeutic applications along with associated challenges and future directions.