Application of Gold Nanorods in Cardiovascular Science

Cardiovascular disease is a significant global Cardiovascular disease is a significant global health problem. Effectively treating it and exercise, but also demands the development of novel tools for rapid diagnosis and new therapeutics for treatment. The field of nanomaterials is making significant contributions to multiple health care problems in the areas of disease detection, imaging and drug delivery. Gold nanoparticles are particularly promising due to their ease of synthesis, biocompatibility and unique optical properties. In particular, gold nanorods having received much attention for their potential in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, are now being examined for other biomedical applications. This chapter highlights efforts using gold nanorods in cardiovascular research in such areas as detection of cardiovascular disease, understanding cardiac cell response to nanomaterials and the ability of gold nanorods to alter the mechanical properties of model tissue constructs and cardiac valves .