Nanotechnology is gradually penetrating into the most diverse spheres of human activity. Even 50 years ago, a diode or triode was a glass flask with metal cathodes and anodes inside. Now, thousands of transistors, resistors and diodes are located in one tiny microcircuit.
The use of nanotechnology in medicine has gone even further: robots are being created in this industry for working with body cells. This breakthrough is due to the fact that this science is constantly dealing with nanoparticles. For example, the peptide is 1 nm in diameter. A protein can be from 10 to 100 nm. The DNA helix does not exceed 100 nm in its cross section and so on. That is, the use of nanotechnology in medicine began with the measurement of cells and smaller organisms. Now the turn has come to create artificial mechanisms for the diagnosis and treatment of the most serious diseases. Examples of nanotechnology in medicine will be discussed later.
Elemental nanoparticle
In fact, nanorobots in medicine began their era with elementary nanoparticles. It is used in the diagnosis of diseases so far. It is a magnetic nanoparticle with an iron oxide core.
There is a lot of ordinary iron in the body, it is widely used for the construction of bone tissue and the production of red blood cells. But there are no magnetic particles in the human body. That is why magnetic ferrites are immediately recognized by microphages, which are designed to fight against foreign bodies. While the microphages hold on to the magnet, they are magnetized themselves, but since they cannot digest it, they gradually fall off from it and continue their normal work.
If inflammation occurs in the body or a tumor grows, then the microphages marked with a magnetic field are sent to the place of the “battle”. There they can be seen with the help of a tomograph. When a doctor observes a large accumulation of microphages in a human organ, a conclusion is drawn about the inflammatory processes occurring in it.
For the diagnosis of cancer, namely the exact location of mutated cells throughout the body, a nanodot is used. This is an object the size of an atom that is able to attach to the affected cell, allowing you to see it on the screens of the tomograph.
Technical requirements for nanorobots in medicine
Nanotechnology of the future in medicine directly depends on what requirements are imposed on them and how accurately they will be observed when creating these mechanisms. This is a kind of technical task for the creators of medical robots:
- Firstly, the nanorobot must have a navigation system, since the human circulatory system through which it will move is an incredibly complex network of large and small vessels.
- Secondly, it should be equipped with a number of sensors to determine the environment in which it finds itself.
- Thirdly, the device should have the ability to move atoms and cells from their location. Also, this function will be needed to return the cell.
- Fourth, nanorobots in medicine should work. To do this, they need manipulators, preferably changing their length.
- Fifth, the nanorobot must be made of diamond or sapphire: the strongest substance on earth. Otherwise, it will collapse very quickly due to incompatibility with the biochemistry of the human body.
- Sixth, robots should have means of communication with other similar devices.
- Seventh, a nanorobot must be able to independently move in the body, regardless of blood flow. To solve this issue, it is planned to produce a flagellar engine, using the example of the device with which, for example, lamblia are moved.
What work should a nanorobot do?
Whatever parameters of nanotechnology in medicine are presented, devices should be able to perform a number of mandatory functions:
- Carry out cell repair at the atomic level.
- To have a therapeutic effect on cancer cells.
- Map blood vessels.
- Analyze DNA and be able to analyze measurements.
- Fight viruses and bacteria.
This is not a complete list of requirements for nanorobots in medicine, but the device must perform these tasks necessarily.
How are technical tasks solved
In order for leukocytes and antibodies not to take nanorobots as an aggressive and dangerous organism, it should be no more than 1 micron across. For the same purpose, the body of the nanorobot should be covered with diamond dust with a thickness of 1 atom. From this, it will become not only strong, but also smooth. Moreover, such a housing is completely protected from the chemical effects of any substance.
To work inside the cell, the robot does not need to penetrate into it entirely, moreover, in this case it can simply destroy it. That is why the device must have telescopic manipulators of sufficient length to penetrate into the intracellular space.
It is possible to communicate and control nanorobots using other mechanisms: communocytes paired with the main device.
Separately solved the problem of manufacturing an engine for nanorobot. For example, it is proposed to use ATP energy. The uniqueness of this substance lies in the transition from chemical bond energy to mechanical, bypassing the stage of energy to heat transfer. That is, such an engine will work with an efficiency of more than 90%. Nobody has managed to create such a device in the ordinary world of mechanisms yet.
And the problem of drug delivery using nanorobots is solved on the basis of actin filaments inside the cells. For example, myosin, able to move along these threads, can attach to a nanorobot and constitute a kind of container for transporting the necessary substances.
Where are nanorobots going
Today, nanotechnology photos in medicine can only be seen on experimental stands. And not really built mechanisms, but prototypes created in virtual reality.
That is, there are no really existing mechanisms yet, and if there are, they are only being tested and are at the development stage. The results of such tests, and even more so the technology of their production, are classified information of manufacturers.
That is why medical nanorobots can only be found at exhibitions and presentations.
Precautionary measures
As in the creation of any medical product, the basic medical principle is observed - do no harm. After all, all doctors take the Hippocratic oath, where this is especially emphasized. That is why the use of nanorobots will begin not only after testing the devices themselves, but also after calculating the safe number of input mechanisms. After all, it is known that microparticles are able to influence the breakdown of proteins, and this, in turn, causes various pathologies.
In other words, nanorobots undergo the same tests as conventional medications.
Modern science takes into account all the pros and cons of nanotechnology in medicine.
Who is building nanorobots
It is impossible to build the latest concept in medicine without the involvement of specialists from other fields of science. Therefore, the development of nanorobots is not only the medical profession who knows the structure of each molecule in the human body, but also physicists, chemists, mathematicians and other specialists.
After all, to create a nanorobot, you need to take into account the laws of inorganic chemistry and physics, and to integrate it into the human body you need to be a biologist. Such wide-field specialists simply do not exist, and various institutions are involved in building these devices.
Conclusion
On the whole, a nanorobot does not represent a completely new conceptual mechanism for medical science. It is based on the behavior of cells, atoms, and other micro-objects in the human body. This is what will make it easy to use and manage it. It’s just a mechanical cage made to help a person. Such an attitude to nanorobots will allow them to begin to be created and widely applied in the next decade. And then mankind will finally cope with diseases that are still incurable.