Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 21.1
Device using nanobots for checking blood contents.
Amazing Nanobots
[4]
.
nanobots for drug delivery is that the amount and time of drug release can be easily controlled by
controlling the electrical pulse
[5]
. Furthermore, the walls dissolve easily and are therefore harm-
less to the body. Elan Pharmaceuticals has already started using this technology in their drugs
Merck's Emend and Wyeth's Rapamune
[6]
. Nanomedicine could make use of these nanorobots (e.g.,
Computational Genes), introduced into the body, to repair or detect damages and infections. Using
nanotechnology, the drug can be targeted to a precise location which would make the drug much
more effective and reduce the chances of possible side effects. In the future, these nanorobots could
actually be programmed to repair specific diseased cells, functioning in a similar way to antibodies in
our natural healing processes.
21.4.1.2 Use of Nanorattles
Tang and her collaborators
[7]
demonstrated that silica nanorattles (rattle-type nanoparticles con-
sisting of a spherical shell encapsulating a freely moving core particle in solvent) show advantages
for
in vivo
enhancement of therapy efficacy and reducing the systematic toxicity of antitumor drugs.
The enhanced tumor inhibition of the docetaxel-loaded silica nanorattles may be attributed to the
sustained docetaxel release from the nanorattles
in vivo
as well as the accumulation of drug-loaded
nanorattles in the intratumor due to enhanced permeability and retention effect once intravenously
administered (
Figure 21.2
).
21.4.2
Nanodiagnostics and Disease Prevention
21.4.2.1 Biosensors
Nanodiagnostics
utilizes biosensor technology, which is one of the most promising, compact systems
consisting of a composite analysis of biological recognition element (DNA, protein, etc.). Detecting
