Metal-Based Nanoclusters for Diagnosis and Treatment of Brain Diseases

Abstract

Recently novel metal-based nanoclusters have gained growing attention regarding their biomedical applications owing to the remarkable characteristics, such as ultrasmall size, luminescence, catalytic properties, reduced poisonousness, and excellent bio-compatibility. However, the use of metal-based nanoclusters in brain research and in different brain disorders has not yet been widely studied. This review summarize the most recent developments concerning the application of novel metal-based nanoclusters with blood–brain barrier permeability for the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders. We mainly discuss the use of metal-based nanoclusters for fluorescent biological imaging or in the diagnosis of brain disorders, the enhanced brain tumor-suppressing efficacy of the metal-based nanocluster sensitizer, and their potential for treating brain diseases. Furthermore, the challenges to their possible biomedical applications are also discussed.