In vivo characterization of carbon dots-bone interactions: toward the development of bone-specific nanocarriers for drug delivery.

Current treatments for osteoporosis and other bone degenerative diseases predominately rely on preventing further bone erosion rather than restoring bone mass, as the latter treatments can unintentionally trigger cancer development by undiscriminatingly promoting cell proliferation. One approach to circumvent this problem is through the development of novel chemical carriers to deliver drug agents specifically to bones. We have recently shown that carbon nanodots (C-dots) synthesized from carbon nanopowder can bind with high affinity and specificity to developing bones in the larval zebrafish.

Carbon dots: promising biomaterials for bone-specific imaging and drug delivery.

Bone-related diseases and dysfunctions are heavy burdens on our increasingly aged society. One important strategy to relieve this problem is through early detection and treatment of bone-related diseases. Towards this goal, there has been constant interest in developing novel bone-specific materials for imaging and drug delivery.