ABSTRACT
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and afflicts an estimated 16 million people worldwide. Clinical diagnosis can be made with only 65–90% accuracy, even when the disease progresses. Although there are some drugs that can slightly alleviate its symptoms, there is currently no treatment that can prevent this neurodegenerative disorder, delay its onset or slow its progress. In order to solve some of the AD challenges, nanotechnology may offer some promising techniques. Recently proposed applications of nanotechnology for the early diagnosis of AD include localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectroscopy, nanomaterial-based two-photon Rayleigh scattering (TPRS) assay for detecting proteins or nanofluidic biosensor using a controlled, reproducible surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Nanotechnological therapies of AD comprise neuroprotection against oxidative stress, lowering brain metal ions by the administration of chelator-nanoparticle systems, anti-amyloid therapeutics and drug delivery beyond the blood brain barrier using nanoparticle carriers. All of these applications may lead to an improvement of diagnosis and therapy of AD and thus are a step toward the cure of AD.