   #copyright

Nanomedicine

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Health and medicine

   Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology and related
   research. It covers areas such as nanoparticle drug delivery and
   possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology (MNT) and
   nanovaccinology.

   Current problems for nanomedicine involve understanding the issues
   related to toxicity and environmental impact of nanoscale materials.

   Direct funding for nanomedicine projects has begun, and the US National
   Institute of Health received funding in 2005 to set up four
   nanomedicine centres. In April 2006, the journal Nature Materials
   estimated that 130 nanotech-based drugs and delivery systems were being
   developed worldwide.

   The first thorough analysis of possible applications of MNT to medicine
   can be read in Nanomedicine , a book series by Robert Freitas; it
   analyzes a wide range of possible nanotechnology-based medical devices,
   and explains the relevant science behind their design.

Cancer

   Nanoparticles of cadmium selenide ( quantum dots) glow when exposed to
   ultraviolet light. When injected, they seep into cancer tumors. The
   surgeon can see the glowing tumor, and use it as a guide for more
   accurate tumor removal.

   Jim Heath, a Caltech chemist, is developing nano-sized sensors that can
   detect and diagnose cancer in the early stages, when there are only a
   few thousand cancer cells in the body. A few drops of the patient's
   blood are placed on the sensor test chip. The chip contains tens of
   thousands of nanowires that can detect proteins and other biomarkers
   left behind by cancer cells. Cancer is curable in the early stages, so
   this test could save lives once perfected.

   Jennifer West, a bioengineer, used nanoshells coated with gold to kill
   cancer tumors in mice. The nanoshells are 120 nanometers in diameter,
   170 times smaller than a cancer cell. The nanoshells are injected into
   the mouse. The nanoshells become lodged in the cracks of the tumors.
   Then the mouse is shot with an infrared laser. The ray passes through
   the flesh harmlessly, but heats up the gold. The gold burns the cancer
   cells to death, without harming the healthy cells. No mice have died,
   even when injected with large doses of nanoshells as per Food and Drug
   Administration requirement. This Nanomedicine method is more accurate,
   cheaper, faster, free of side effects, and less dangerous than surgery,
   chemotherapy, and radiation treatment.

   Largemouth bass in water containing fullerenes at 500 parts per billion
   suffered brain damage in 2004. Half of the lab-grown human skin and
   liver cells exposed to a solution, containing fullerenes at 20 parts
   per billion, died. Fullerenes can be made less toxic by attaching
   hydroxyl groups. The more hydroxyl groups added, the less toxic the
   fullerenes are. With the best coating, the toxicity level dropped by a
   factor of 10,000.

Surgery

   At Rice University, a flesh welder is used to fuse two pieces of
   chicken meat into a single piece. The two pieces of chicken are placed
   together touching. A greenish liquid containing gold-coated nanoshells
   is dribbled along the seam. An infrared laser is traced along the seam,
   causing the two side to weld together. This could solve the
   difficulties and blood leaks caused when the surgeon tries to restitch
   the arteries he/she has cut during a kidney or heart transplant. The
   flesh welder could meld the artery into a perfect seal. Nanomedicine
   has varied applications in Cardiac Surgery also.

Nanorobots

   The somewhat speculative claims about the possibility of using
   nanorobots in medicine, advocates say, would totally change the world
   of medicine once it is realised. Nanomedicine would make use of these
   nanorobots, introduced into the body, to repair or detect damages and
   infections. A typical blood borne medical nanorobot would be between
   0.5-3 micrometres in size, because that is the maximum size possible
   due to capillary passage requirement. Carbon would be the primary
   element used to build these nanorobots due to the inherent strength and
   other characteristics of some forms of carbon (diamond/fullerene
   composites). Cancer can be treated very effectively, according to
   nanomedicine advocates. Nanorobots could counter the problem of
   identifying and isolating cancer cells as they could be introduced into
   the blood stream. These nanorobots would search out cancer affected
   cells using certain molecular markers. Medical nanorobots would then
   destroy these cells, and only these cells. Nanomedicines could be a
   very helpful and hopeful theraphy for patients, since current
   treatments like radiation therapy and chemotherapy often end up
   destroying more healthy cells than cancerous ones. From this point of
   view, it provides a non-depressed theraphy for cancer patients.
   Nanorobots could also be useful in treating vascular disease , physical
   trauma , and even biological aging .

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanomedicine"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
