Figure 1. Examples of nanotechnologies applied to immunoregulation.
Nanotechnologies that can be applied to immunoregulation include nanoparticles (parts a–c), nanoemulsions (parts d–f) and virus-like particles (parts g–h). Nanoparticles include dendrimers which branch out (part a), carbon molecules known as spherical fullerenes (part b) and cylindrical carbon molecules known as cylindrical fullerenes (part c). Nanoemulsions incorporate immiscible components such as oil and water that might form amphiphilic molecules such as micelles (part d), liposomes with a lipid bilayer (part e) and oil-in-water emulsions (part f). Virus-like particles are self-assembled structures composed of one or more viral capsid proteins (part g), whereas synthetic virus-like particles are self-assembled from chemically synthesized components (part h). Examples of the relationship between nanoparticle size and bioactivity are shown in (part i).