Kidney stone analysis techniques are well established in the field of materials characterization and provide information for the chemical composition and structure of a sample. Nanomedicine, on the other hand, is a field with an increasing rate of scientific research, a big budget and increasingly developing market. The key scientific question is if there is a possibility for the development of a nanomedicine to treat kidney stones.
The main calculi characterization techniques such as X - Ray Diffraction and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy can provide information about the composition of a kidney stone but not for its nanostructure. On the other hand, Small Angle X - Ray Scattering and Nitrogen Porosimetry can show the nanostructural parameters of the calculi. The combination of the previously described parameters can be used for the development of nano - drugs for the treatment of Urolithiasis, while no such nano-drugs exist yet.
In this study, we focus on the most well-known techniques for kidney stone analysis, the urolithiasis management and the search for possible nanomedicine for the treatment of kidney stone disease. We combine the results from five different analysis techniques in order to represent a three dimensional model and we propose a hypothetical nano-drug with gold nanoparticles.
Biochimica et biophysica acta. 2017 Jan 24 [Epub ahead of print]
N Vordos, S Giannakopoulos, D A Gkika, J W Nolan, Ch Kalaitzis, D V Bandekas, C Kontogoulidou, A Ch Mitropoulos, S Touloupidis
Hephaestus Advanced Laboratory, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology, 65404, St. Lucas, Kavala, Greece; Department of Electrical Engineering, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology., Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Dragana, 68100, Alexandroupolis, Greece., University of Antwerp, Applied Economics, Department of Engineering Management, Antwerp, Belgium., Hephaestus Advanced Laboratory, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology, 65404, St. Lucas, Kavala, Greece. Electronic address: ., Department of Electrical Engineering, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology., University of Piraeus, Department of Business Administration, Piraeus, Greece., Hephaestus Advanced Laboratory, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology, 65404, St. Lucas, Kavala, Greece.