Cellulose nanocrystals as promising nano-devices in the biomedical field

We present our application of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in the biomedical field. With the aim of identifying novel nanoparticles for drug targeting, we fluorescently labelled the CNCs and carried out a biodistribution study in vivo. Results evidence that CNCs have a peculiar and transient tropism to the limb bones that is likely related to the interaction with the Ca2+ deposits in the bone matrix. We also analyzed and demonstrated the ability of CNCs to inhibit bacterial adhesion to host tissue. All these findings, taken together, make these nanoparticles very promising candidate for a potential development of nano-devices toward bone diseases, as well as new antibacterial agents.