Nanotechnologies in medicine. Nanoparticles in medicine and pharmaceuticals Application of nanoparticles in medicine and pharmacology

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Introduction

In the second half of the 20th century, a scientific and technological revolution takes place, which is characterized by an increase in the interaction of sciences, an integrated approach to the study of complex problems; the merger of science and technology, science and production, the increasing importance of information activities, the growth of the level of education and culture of the population.

Science is becoming the leading factor in the development of technology and production. All main directions of technical progress are based on the results of fundamental science.

One of the promising areas along with genetic engineering is nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary field of fundamental and applied science and technology that deals with a combination of theoretical justification, practical methods of research, analysis and synthesis, as well as methods for the production and use of products with a given atomic structure by controlled manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.

In a practical aspect, these are technologies for the production of devices and their components necessary for the creation, processing and manipulation of atoms, molecules and particles, the sizes of which range from 1 to 100 nanometers. Nanotechnology is designed to manipulate individual atoms and molecules, under control and with precision (super precision). The use of advanced scientific results in nanotechnology makes it possible to refer it to high technologies.

Nanotechnology is the next logical step in the development of electronics and other science-intensive industries. Nanotechnology is a key concept of the beginning of the 21st century, a symbol of a new, third, scientific and technological revolution. According to the forecasts of scientists, nanotechnologies in the 21st century will make the same revolution in the manipulation of matter, which computers made in the 20th century in the manipulation of information. Their development opens up great prospects for the development of new materials, the improvement of communications, the development of biotechnology, microelectronics, energy, healthcare and weapons. Among the most likely scientific breakthroughs, experts list a significant increase in computer performance, the restoration of human organs using newly recreated tissue, the obtaining of new materials created directly from given atoms and molecules, as well as new discoveries in chemistry and physics.

Chapter 1 The Nature of Nanotechnology and Their Applications

1.1 History of nanotechnology

People began to think about the possibility of developing nanotechnologies and creating nanomaterials for a long time. Thus, the ancient Roman poet and scientist Titus Lucretius Carus in his work “On the Nature of Things” introduces the concept of “the first principles of things”, adding and combining which you can get various substances with different properties: “The first principles of things, as you can now easily see, only to the known borders are heterogeneous in form. If it were not so, then certainly other seeds would have to reach immense sizes. For, with their equally small sizes, they do not allow a significant difference in forms.

Thoughts about using individual ultra-fine particles to create the necessary objects and materials came to mind, both to medieval alchemists and to prominent scientists of the 17th-18th centuries, for example, M.V. Lomonosov and the Frenchman P. Gassendi. Russian writer N.S. Leskov, in his famous work about the Tula mechanic Levsha, describes an almost classic example of nanotechnology for the production of a “mechanical flea”. At the same time, there is a mysterious coincidence - according to Leskov, to observe “nanonails” in flea horseshoes, a magnification of 5 million times was required, that is, just the limit of the capabilities of modern atomic force microscopes, which are one of the main tools for studying nanostructured materials.

Many sources, primarily in English, associate the first mention of methods that would later be called nanotechnology with the famous speech of Richard Feynman, made by him in 1959 at the California Institute of Technology at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society. Richard Feynman suggested that it would be possible to mechanically move single atoms, using a manipulator of the appropriate size, at least such a process would not contradict the physical laws known today.

Feynman's ideas about how to create and use such manipulators coincide almost textually with the fantastic story "Microhands" by the famous Soviet writer Boris Zhitkov, published in 1931.

The term "nanotechnology" was first proposed by the Japanese N. Taniguchi in 1974. The possibility of creating materials with grain sizes less than 100 nm, which should have many interesting and useful additional properties compared to traditional microstructural materials, was pointed out by the German scientist G. Gleiter in 1981 He is also, independently of him, the domestic scientist I.D. Morokhov introduced the concept of nanocrystals into the scientific literature. Later, G. Gleiter also introduced the terms nanocrystalline materials, nanostructural, nanophase, nanocomposite, etc. into scientific use.

A brief chronology of achievements in the field of nanotechnology is presented in Table 1.

Table 1 - Brief chronology of achievements in the field of nanotechnology

	Significant advances in nanotechnology
	Suggested circuit diagram near-field scanning optical microscope devices
	German physicists Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska created an electron microscope, which for the first time made it possible to study nanoobjects
	Creation of the first scanning electron microscope
	American physicist Richard Feynman put forward the idea of ​​creating substances and objects by piecemeal atomic assembly.
	Alfred Cho and John Arthur, Science Division American company Bell, developed theoretical basis nanotechnology in surface treatment
	Created a device that works on the principle of a near-field microscope
	Japanese physicist Norio Taniguchi coined the term "nanotechnology" to refer to mechanisms smaller than one micron in size. The Greek word "nanos" means roughly "old man"
	The possibility of the existence of quantum lines and quantum dots is theoretically considered
	German physicists Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer created a microscope capable of showing individual atoms (scanning tunneling microscope)
	American physicists Robert Curl, Harold Kroto and Richard Smaley created a technology that allows you to accurately measure objects with a diameter of one nanometer. Creation of the first field-effect transistor with high carrier mobility. Chemists synthesized the first fullerenes
	E.K. Drexler (USA) put forward the concept of creating molecular machines. Creation of an atomic force microscope
	Donald Eigler, an employee of IBM, laid out the name of his company with xenon atoms
	In Japan, the implementation of the state program for the development of techniques for manipulating atoms and molecules (the Atomic Technology project) has begun. Obtaining the first carbon nanotubes
	Dutch physicist Seez Dekker created the nanotechnology-based transistor. An electronic storage device memory element (with a memory capacity of 128 Mbps) operating at room temperature was manufactured
	American physicists James Tour and Mark Reed determined that a single molecule can behave in the same way as molecular chains.
	The US administration supported the creation of the National Nanotechnology Initiative\National Nanotechnology Initiative. Nanotechnology research has received government funding. Then $500 million was allocated from the federal budget. In 2002, the amount of appropriations was increased to $604 million. For 2003, the Initiative requests $710 million
	The state corporation "Rosnano" was established in the Russian Federation

1.2 State of knowledge about nanotechnology today

Nanoscience as a whole is developing literally before our very eyes at the intersection of previously considered independent sciences and technologies (information technology, electronic engineering, biochemistry, atomic spectroscopy, physics, etc.).

The result of the interweaving of sciences has become a serious problem of inconsistency in approaches, terminology, definitions, methods and scientific jargon. The creation of handbooks and dictionaries on nanotechnology is becoming an urgent problem (in particular, when it comes to the growing flow of information in Japanese and Chinese).

At present, neither a conventional definition of nanotechnologies nor international standards have been adopted to unambiguously identify nanotechnological products. The problem is that nanotechnology is a complex interdisciplinary field that expands as it develops, and the nanoindustry is not a branch of the economy in the conventional sense - it covers various types of economic activity and types of products.

Nanoscience can be defined as an interdisciplinary science related to fundamental physical and chemical studies of objects and processes with scales of several nanometers.

Nanotechnology - totality applied research nanosciences and their practical applications, including industrial production and social use.

1.3 Applications of nanotechnology

Through the use of nanotechnology, a significant “breakthrough” to new operating principles and new technological methods can be made. Since nanotechnology allows you to create a number of fundamentally new production processes, materials and devices based on them.

The penetration of nanotechnology into the spheres of human activity can be represented as a tree of nanotechnology. The application has the form of a tree, the branches of which represent the main areas of application, and the branches from the large branches represent the differentiation within the main areas of application on this moment time.

Today we have the following picture:

· biological sciences involve the development of gene tag technology, surfaces for implants, antimicrobial surfaces, targeted drugs, tissue engineering, oncological therapy;

· simple fibers suggest the development of paper technology, cheap building materials, lightweight boards, auto parts, heavy-duty materials;

· Nanoclips involve the production of new fabrics, glass coating, "smart" sands, paper, carbon fibers;

· protection against corrosion by means of nanoadditives to copper, aluminium, magnesium, steel;

· Catalysts are intended for use in agriculture, deodorization, and food production;

· Easily cleanable materials are used in everyday life, architecture, dairy and food industries, transport industry, sanitation. This is the production of self-cleaning glasses, hospital equipment and tools, anti-mold coatings, easy-cleaning ceramics;

bio-coatings are used in sports equipment and bearings;

· Optics as a sphere of application of nanotechnology includes such areas as electrochromics, the production of optical lenses. These are new photochromic optics, easy-to-clean optics and coated optics;

· ceramics in the field of nanotechnology application makes it possible to obtain electroluminescence and photoluminescence, printing pastes, pigments, nanopowders, microparticles, membranes;

· computer technology and electronics as a sphere of application of nanotechnology will give the development of electronics, nanosensors, household (embedded) microcomputers, visualization tools and energy converters. Further is the development of global networks, wireless communications, quantum and DNA computers;

· Nanomedicine, as a sphere of application of nanotechnology, is nanomaterials for prosthetics, "smart" prostheses, nanocapsules, diagnostic nanoprobes, implants, DNA reconstructors and analyzers, "smart" and precision instruments, directional pharmaceuticals;

· space as a sphere of application of nanotechnology will open the prospect for mechanoelectric converters of solar energy, nanomaterials for space applications;

· ecology as a sphere of application of nanotechnology is the restoration of the ozone layer, weather control.

Figure 1 - Forecast of economic and social consequences of the introduction of nanotechnologies

1.3.1 Nanotechnology in space

Today, space is not exotic, and exploration of it is not only a matter of prestige. First of all, this is a matter of national security and national competitiveness of our state. It is the development of supercomplex nanosystems that can become a national advantage of the country. Like nanotechnology, nanomaterials will give us the opportunity to talk seriously about manned flights to various planets. solar system. It is the use of nanomaterials and nanomechanisms that can make manned flights to Mars and exploration of the Moon's surface a reality. Another extremely demanded direction in the development of microsatellites is the creation of remote sensing of the Earth. A market of consumers of information is being formed with a resolution of satellite images of 1 m in the radar range and less than 1 m in the optical range (first of all, such data are used in cartography).

A system of microsatellites has been created, it is less vulnerable to attempts to destroy it. It is one thing to shoot down a colossus in orbit weighing several hundred kilograms, or even tons, immediately putting out of action all space communications or intelligence, and another when there is a whole swarm of microsatellites in orbit. The failure of one of them in this case will not disrupt the operation of the system as a whole. Accordingly, the requirements for the reliability of the operation of each satellite can be reduced.

Young scientists believe that the key problems of microminiaturization of satellites include, among other things, the creation of new technologies in the field of optics, communication systems, methods for transmitting, receiving and processing large amounts of information. We are talking about nanotechnologies and nanomaterials, which make it possible to reduce the mass and dimensions of devices launched into space by two orders of magnitude. For example, the strength of nanonickel is 6 times higher than regular nickel, which makes it possible, when using it in rocket engines, to reduce the mass of the nozzle by 20-30%. Reducing the mass of space technology solves many problems: it prolongs the spacecraft's stay in space, allows it to fly farther and carry more of any useful equipment for research. At the same time, the problem of energy supply is being solved. Miniature devices will soon be used to study many phenomena, for example, the impact of solar rays on processes on Earth and in near-Earth space.

It is expected that in 2025 the first assemblers based on nanotechnology will appear. It is theoretically possible that they will be able to construct any object from ready-made atoms. It will be enough to design any product on a computer, and it will be assembled and multiplied by the assembly complex of nanorobots. But these are still the simplest possibilities of nanotechnology. It is known from theory that rocket engines would work optimally if they could change their shape depending on the mode. Only with the use of nanotechnology will this become a reality. A structure stronger than steel, lighter than wood, will be able to expand, contract and bend, changing the force and direction of the thrust. The spacecraft will be able to transform in about an hour. Nanotechnology, built into the space suit and ensuring the circulation of substances, will allow a person to stay in it for an unlimited time. Nanorobots are also able to realize the dream of science fiction about the colonization of other planets, these devices will be able to create on them the habitat necessary for human life. It will become possible to automatically build orbital systems, any structures in the oceans, on the surface of the earth and in the air (experts predict this by 2025).

1.3.2 Nanotechnologies in agriculture and industry

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize agriculture. Molecular robots will be able to produce food by “freeing” plants and animals from this. To this end, they will use any "grass material": water and air, where there are the main necessary elements - carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, aluminum and silicon, and the rest, as for "ordinary" living organisms, will be required in microquantities. For example, it is theoretically possible to produce milk directly from grass, bypassing the intermediate link - a cow. A person does not have to kill animals to eat a fried chicken or a piece of smoked lard. Consumer goods will be produced "at home".

Nanofood (nanofood) - the term is new, obscure and unsightly. Food for nanohumans? Very small portions? Food made in nanofactories? Of course not. But still, it is an interesting trend in the food industry. It turns out that nanoeating is a whole set of scientific ideas that are already on the way to implementation and application in industry. First, nanotechnology can provide food manufacturers with unique opportunities for total real-time monitoring of the quality and safety of products directly in the production process. We are talking about diagnostic machines using various nanosensors or so-called quantum dots that can quickly and reliably detect the smallest chemical contaminants or dangerous biological agents in products. And food production, and its transportation, and storage methods can receive their share of useful innovations from the nanotechnology industry. According to scientists, the first mass-produced machines of this kind will appear in mass food production in the next four years.

But more radical ideas are also on the agenda. Are you ready to swallow nanoparticles you can't see? But what if nanoparticles are purposefully used to deliver beneficial substances and drugs to precisely selected parts of the body? What if such nanocapsules can be introduced into food products? So far, no one has used nanofood, but preliminary developments are already underway. Experts say that edible nanoparticles can be made from silicon, ceramics or polymers and, of course, organic substances. And if everything is clear with regard to the safety of the so-called "soft" particles, similar in structure and composition to biological materials, then "hard" particles composed of inorganic substances are a big white spot at the intersection of two territories - nanotechnology and biology. Scientists still cannot say which routes such particles will travel in the body, and where they will stop as a result. This remains to be seen. But some experts are already painting a futuristic picture of the benefits of nanoeating beyond delivering valuable nutrients to the right cells. The idea is as follows: everyone buys the same drink, but then the consumer will be able to control the nanoparticles himself so that the taste, color, aroma and concentration of the drink will change before his eyes.

Chapter 2. Nanotechnologies in medicine

nanotechnology medicine nanorobot

The study of the properties of nanomaterials in the framework of fundamental research and applied research is carried out almost all over the world, with the exception of most countries in Africa and some countries in South America. The greatest successes were obtained in the USA, Japan, and France. Our country has been engaged in research in the field of nanotechnology for several decades. In certain areas, Russian scientists occupy priority positions in the world.

Nanomedicine is represented by the following possibilities:

1. Labs on a chip, targeted drug delivery in the body.

2. DNA - chips (creation of individual drugs).

3. Artificial enzymes and antibodies.

4. Artificial organs, artificial functional polymers (substitutes for organic tissues). This direction is closely connected with the idea of ​​artificial life and in the future leads to the creation of robots with artificial consciousness and capable of self-healing at the molecular level.

5. Nanorobots-surgeons (biomechanisms that carry out changes and required medical actions, recognition and destruction of cancer cells). The most radical application of nanotechnology in medicine will be the creation of molecular nanorobots that can destroy infections and cancerous tumors, repair damaged DNA, tissues and organs, duplicate entire life support systems of the body, and change the properties of the body.

Considering a single atom as a brick or "detail", nanotechnologies are looking for practical ways to construct materials with desired characteristics from these details. Many companies already know how to assemble atoms and molecules into certain structures.

2.1 Nanotechnology in the fight against cancer cells

Recent advances in nanotechnology, according to scientists, can be very useful in the fight against cancer. An anti-cancer drug has been developed that is delivered directly to the target - into cells affected by a malignant tumor. Nanoparticles can serve as a transport for drugs, bringing the active substance exactly to the infected areas. This new system based on a material known as biosilicon. Nanosilicone has a porous structure (ten atoms in diameter), which is convenient to introduce drugs, proteins and radionuclides. Having reached the goal, the biosilicon begins to disintegrate, and the medicines delivered by it are taken to work. Moreover, according to the developers, the new system allows you to adjust the dosage of the drug.

The next step in the development of this new therapy was successful experiments in curing tumors in laboratory mice using radioactive gold nanoparticles.

First, the scientists prepared gold nanoparticles using the radioactive gold isotope 198. The nanoparticles were then coated with gum arabic glycoprotein in order to make the nanoparticles biocompatible and allow them to move freely in the blood stream. Experiments carried out on mice showed that after injection into the blood, the nanoparticles are concentrated in the tissues of the human prostate tumor grafted to mice, practically without transmitting radioactivity to other organs.

The mice that received the nanoparticles were followed for three weeks. By the end of this period, the volume of tumors was reduced by 82% compared to animals that received nanoparticles without radiation. In addition, the animals from the first group did not lose weight during the observation, in contrast to the animals from the second group. The scientists also tested the blood of mice and found no signs of radiation exposure.

Over the past years, employees of the Center for Biological Nanotechnology have been working on the creation of microsensors that will be used to detect cancer cells in the body and fight this terrible disease.

A new technique for recognizing cancer cells is based on the implantation of tiny spherical reservoirs made of synthetic polymers called dendrimers (from the Greek dendron - tree) into the human body. These polymers have been synthesized in the last decade and have a fundamentally new, non-solid structure that resembles the structure of coral or wood. Such polymers are called hyperbranched or cascaded. Those in which branching is regular are called dendrimers. In diameter, each such sphere, or nanosensor, reaches only 5 nanometers - 5 billionths of a meter, which makes it possible to place billions of such nanosensors in a small area of ​​\u200b\u200bspace.

Once inside the body, these tiny sensors will penetrate the lymphocytes, the white blood cells that provide the body's defense response against infection and other pathogens. When the immune response of lymphoid cells to a certain disease or environmental condition - a cold or exposure to radiation, for example - the protein structure of the cell changes. Each nanosensor, coated with special chemicals, will begin to glow with such changes.

To see this glow, scientists are going to create a special device that scans the retina. The laser of such a device should detect the glow of lymphocytes when they pass one by one through the narrow capillaries of the fundus. If there are enough labeled sensors in the lymphocytes, a 15-second scan would be needed to detect damage to the cell, the scientists say.

2.2 Nanobots

Modern science and engineering need the help of robotic technology to solve various problems. At the same time, the problems that are increasingly confronting scientists require the creation not of giants capable of digging a pit with one movement of the bucket, but of tiny machines invisible to the eye. These engineering products are not like robots in the usual sense, but they are able to independently perform complex tasks according to existing algorithms. Such machines are called nanorobots.

The scope of nanorobots is very wide. In fact, they may be necessary when creating, debugging and maintaining the functioning of any complex system. Nanomachines can be used in electronics to create minidevices or electrical circuits - this technology is called molecular nanoassembly. In the future, any assembly in a factory of components can be replaced by a simple assembly of atoms.

However, the issue of using nanorobots in medicine has now come to the fore. The human body, as it were, suggests the idea of ​​nanorobots, since it itself contains many natural nanomechanisms: many neutrophils, lymphocytes and white blood cells constantly function in the body, restoring damaged tissues, destroying invading microorganisms and removing foreign particles from various organs. By conventional injection, nanorobots can be injected into the blood or lymph. For external use, the solution with these robots can be applied to a tissue site. One of the developed directions is the transportation of the drug to the affected cells. Such nanorobots can be effective, for example, in the drug treatment of cancerous tumors.

Nanorobots can literally do everything: diagnose the state of any organs and processes, interfere with these processes, deliver drugs, connect and destroy tissues, and synthesize new ones. In fact, nanorobots can permanently rejuvenate a person by replicating all of their tissues. At this stage, scientists have developed a complex program that simulates the design and behavior of nanorobots in the body. Extremely detailed aspects of maneuvering in the arterial environment, the search for proteins using sensors. Scientists have conducted virtual studies of nanorobots for the treatment of diabetes, studies of the abdominal cavity, brain aneurysms, cancer, bioprotection from toxic substances.

Here, the greatest impact of nanotechnology is expected, since it affects the very basis of the existence of society - man. Nanotechnology reaches such a dimensional level of the physical world, at which the distinction between living and non-living becomes unsteady - these are molecular machines. Nanotechnology in its developed form involves the construction of nanorobots, molecular machines of inorganic atomic composition, these machines will be able to build their copies, having information about such a construction. Therefore, the line between living and non-living begins to blur. To date, only one primitive walking DNA robot has been created.

In medicine, the problem of using nanotechnologies lies in the need to change the structure of the cell at the molecular level, i.e. to carry out "molecular surgery" with the help of nanorobots. It is expected the creation of molecular robotic doctors that can "live" inside the human body, eliminating all damage that occurs, or preventing the occurrence of such. By manipulating individual atoms and molecules, nanorobots will be able to repair cells. The predicted term for the creation of robotic doctors is the first half of the 21st century.

To achieve these goals, humanity needs to solve three main questions:

1. Design and build molecular robots that can repair molecules.

2. Design and create nanocomputers that will control nanomachines.

3. Create a complete description of all the molecules in the human body, in other words, create a map of the human body at the atomic level.

The main difficulty with nanotechnology is the problem of creating the first nanobot. There are several promising directions.

One of them is to improve the scanning tunneling microscope or atomic force microscope and achieve positional accuracy and gripping power.

Another way to create the first nanorobot leads through chemical synthesis. It is possible to design and synthesize intricate chemical components that are capable of self-assembly in solution.

And another way leads through biochemistry. Ribosomes (inside the cell) are specialized nanorobots, and we can use them to build more versatile robots. These nanorobots will be able to slow down the aging process, treat individual cells and interact with individual neurons.

Research works have been started relatively recently, but the pace of discoveries in this area is extremely high. Many believe that this is the future of medicine.

In Japan, scientists have developed a "nanobrain" - a molecular structure that allows you to control nanorobots. As part of the experiment, various nanomachines were able to execute the simplest commands with the help of the “nanobrain”. "Nanobrain" can be used to create supercomputers.

Employees of the International Center for Young Scientists created a complex molecular structure that made it possible to control several nanomachines at once. The researchers set up an experiment in which they proved that the structure of 17 DRQ molecules (consists of benzoquinone and tetramethyl) functions similarly to a processor that performs 16 instructions per cycle.

17 DRQ molecules can be formed into a molecular machine capable of encoding over 4 billion different combinations. The size of the resulting molecular structure is only 2 nanometers. This is the world's first working example of a "nanobrain".

It is assumed that the "nanobrain" can be used to create nanorobots, the projects of which are still under development.

2.3 Using nanomagnets to cleanse the blood of toxins

Scientists involved in the application of nanotechnology in medicine report that they have developed a way to cleanse the blood of toxins within a few hours. For this, special nanomagnets are used. Each nanomagnet is 30 nanometers in diameter, and one gram of such magnets is enough to cleanse one person's blood of a particular toxin in a few hours.

The use of nanomagnets for blood purification was the subject of a dissertation research by Inge Herrmann, a scientist at the Institute of Chemistry and Bioengineering in Zurich. Scientists have found that magnets in the blood can be made to attract toxin molecules. Since blood is quite viscous, the magnets were mixed into the blood by gentle shaking. In less than five minutes, the magnets attracted all the molecules of the corresponding toxin to them. The rate is determined by the binding constant, and the higher this indicator, the faster the antibody is attracted to the antigen. After the purification procedure, the nanomagnets are filtered out of the blood using a large permanent magnet on the outer wall of the vessel.

The smooth, non-porous surface of the magnet has a great attraction power. Another advantage is that the magnets can be fine-tuned to precisely defined molecules so that the magnets do not interfere with the functioning of antibodies, red blood cells or blood proteins.

Currently, methods such as dialysis, filtration or the depletion method are used to filter toxic substances from the bloodstream. However, the molecules of many substances produced by the body or introduced from the outside are too large to be removed using these methods without affecting the molecules of vital substances. Until now, the only method was considered to be a complete replacement of blood plasma, so German scientists consider their method a breakthrough in this field of medicine, since magnets can attract very large and very small molecules.

In earlier experiments, scientists used a very large number of magnets, which led to the destruction of red blood cells, but now no negative consequences have been identified: nanomagnets did not affect either red blood cells or blood clotting. The fear that the use of magnets would lead to the release of too much iron into the blood also turned out to be groundless.

Currently, scientists intend to begin full-scale testing of the method to find out if it is really completely safe for humans.

2.4 Retinal implants

Research by Professor Yael Khanin of Tel Aviv University of Electronic Engineering brings hope to people who have lost their sight by allowing electrodes to be attached to retinal nerves to stimulate growth cell tissue. The development has already been successfully tested on animals.

So far, its development is used in work on the restoration of the nervous tissue of the brain. The development is a pasta-like mass of nanosized carbon tubes. With the help of an electric current, Ya. Khanin managed to make neurons from the brain of a rat grow on this mass. Such growth, she says, is a very complex process, but neurons adapt well to the new structure, connecting with it physically and electrically. With the help of such a complex structure, one can observe in detail the processes occurring between neurons.

The development can already be put into practice for the treatment of retinal degeneration. Such diseases are considered incurable and scientists have long been looking for a way to replace damaged cells. However, Ya. Khanin managed to create retinal implants that restore tissue activity in damaged areas. Grown on a flexible transparent substrate, new cells fuse with the retina and lead to the restoration of lost vision.

2.5 Nanotitanium implants

In the United States, together with Russian nanotechnologists, the production of the first nanotitanium implants for use in dentistry has begun. On the part of Russia, the research and production company "Nanomet" was involved in the project, in particular.

The nanomaterial from which such implants are made is much stronger than usual and fuses with bone tissue faster, and they are also more durable.

The researchers were able to turn the molecule into a nanocoil, a type of nanostructure that has recently attracted the attention of scientists for its ability to attach other molecules to itself. This development may be promising for the introduction of nanotechnology in areas such as pharmaceuticals, biomedicine, for the production of biosensors and much more.

Nanocoils represent a new concept in nanotechnology because they have a very large surface area and at the same time provide rapid fluid movement. They resemble the coiled wire of old telephones. It is very convenient to place reacting catalysts on them and the range of their application is quite wide.

Scientists have found a way to attach enzymes to silica nanocoils so that they function as biological catalysts to facilitate other reactions. On the basis of such spirals, it is possible to create, for example, biosensors that will respond very quickly to the presence of a toxin. Scientists consider it important how easily nanocoils attach various biological molecules to themselves. They can be coated not only with enzymes, but also, for example, with antibodies. The spirals themselves are grown using chemical vapor deposition on various substrates.

French scientists have invented a nanomaterial, due to which even severely damaged teeth can be restored. A nanomaterial film can be wrapped around a diseased tooth, which will begin to recover.

Conclusion

In the course of the scientific and technological revolution, there is a movement "in breadth" (along with inanimate matter, the use of living matter begins - genetic engineering) and a movement "deep" (from the molecular to the atomic level).

Emerging nanotechnologies make it possible to collect under control physical methods observing crystals of the desired properties from individual atoms, as from the details of a designer, that is, to see and move individual atoms one billionth of a meter in size. Hence the name - nanotechnology. From what we have learned, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. Nanotechnology is a symbol of the future, the most important industry, without which the further development of civilization is unthinkable.

2. The possibilities of using nanotechnology are almost inexhaustible - from microscopic computers that kill cancer cells to automobile engines that do not pollute the environment.

3. Nanotechnologies are in their infancy today, fraught with great potential. In the future, scientists will have to solve many issues related to nanoscience and comprehend its deepest secrets. But, despite this, nanotechnology is already having a very serious impact on the life of modern man.

4. Great prospects carry great dangers. In this regard, a person should treat the unprecedented possibilities of nanotechnologies with the utmost caution, directing his research to peaceful purposes. Otherwise, he may endanger his own existence.

Despite the fact that nanotechnologies today have specific applications and penetrate through these applications into the industry and the market, it is clear that this area is still at a very early stage of its development - nanotechnologies have not spawned a new industry. Of exceptional importance for their development is the development and production of various measuring and technological equipment - the instrumental base of nanotechnologies.

List of sources used

1. M. Rybalkina Introduction to nanotechnology, Moscow, 2005, 444 p.

2. L.M. Popova Textbook Introduction to Nanotechnology SPbGTURP, St. Petersburg, 2013. 96 p.: ill. 63

3. B.M. Baloyan, A.G. Kolmakov, M.I. Alymov, A.M. Krotov Tutorial Nanomaterials. Classification, features of properties, application and production technologies Moscow, 2007

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term paper, added 10/11/2014


The concept of high-tech physiotherapy care. Stages of development of new innovative technologies in modern physiotherapy. The use of microprocessor information technologies. Application of nanotechnologies. Robotic physiotherapy.

abstract, added 08/23/2013


"Nanotechnologies" are technologies operating on the order of a nanometer. Directions of nanotechnology: manufacturing electronic circuits the size of a molecule (atom), the design and manufacture of machines, the manipulation of atoms and molecules; microscopic sensors.

abstract, added 04/19/2009


The use of radioactive radiation in medicine and industry. The history of the discovery of radioactivity by the French physicist A. Becquerel. The use of radiation to diagnose and treat various diseases. Essence and features of radiation sterilization.

For centuries, man has been busy searching for a magic potion to get rid of numerous diseases and wounds. The coming twenty-first century gives hope that the use of modern nanotechnologies in medicine will be a significant step towards this goal for mankind.

The world first learned about nanotechnology in 1959. After the past half century, nanotechnology is already being talked about everywhere, although many have not been able to fully understand what it is. Particles from 1 to 100 nanometers are difficult to visualize - this is a millionth particle of the tip of a sewing needle!

Although nanomedicine as such does not yet exist, it is actively developing. In many countries, scientists are working on projects using nanoparticles. When talking about nanoparticles, you need to imagine that the materials from them are created using individual atoms and molecules. Thus, nanotechnologies make it possible to significantly influence the structure of a material.

Scientists of all the globe are busy looking for ways to make nanoparticles work for the benefit of human health. Nanotechnology will expand the possibilities of medicine, from diagnostics to therapy.

What yesterday was considered science fiction is now beginning to be applied in practice in real methods of nanomedicine. Scientists in many countries are developing to create nanorobot doctors at the molecular level, which will be able to eliminate various problems in the human body without surgical intervention and with high accuracy.

For example, such nanorobots will be able to remove excess cholesterol, fight atherosclerosis by removing excess lipids from the vascular wall in time, kill viruses and bacteria as well as to deliver medicines directly to the body that needs it.

When a drug is delivered exactly inside a living cell, its effectiveness is increased thousands of times, and side effects are reduced to zero. The delivery of medicines exactly as intended is especially important in oncology, since healthy cells of the body are not damaged, and cancer cells are destroyed.

Nanorobots will help solve the problem of genetic abnormalities, because hereditary diseases are still incurable, since the cause of the disease lies in the human genome, which cannot be changed. Now nanorobots will help to carry out the "repair" of genes, eliminating structural violations and abnormal sequences in them.

Renowned American futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil believes that by 2030 people will be able to launch billions of nanorobots into the human circulatory system. Like city utilities, molecular nanorobots in the human body will “create” new material and remove worn out material. New technologies will make it possible to restore individual cells by assembling them from individual molecules.

Cunning robots, traveling through the blood vessels of a person, will independently detect any malfunction in the body and easily fix it. This will significantly slow down the aging process of the body, because the main factors that cause a person to age will be eliminated.

Nanotechnology will make it possible to create extremely accurate and sensitive diagnostic tools both in vitro and in vivo. The ultimate goal of diagnosis is to identify the disease as early as possible. With the help of nanotechnology, doctors will be able to diagnose diseases at the cellular and even subcellular level.

And yet, far from everything is known about the nanoworld. Therefore, there are still many scientists who are wary of the use of nanotechnology in medicine. This is especially true for changes in human genes, which will lead to certain transformations in a very short time. short term instead of an evolutionary development that lasted for hundreds of thousands of years.

If scientists learn to fully control nanorobots, then they will be able to continuously adjust all physiological processes in the body, which will allow a person to abandon the need to visit doctors.

Increasingly, nanomaterials are used in medicine as implants, prostheses, and instruments. In civilized countries, there is a growing need to find reliable materials to replace damaged parts of the human body. Therefore, modern surgery and dentistry require materials with high chemical inertness while maintaining high mechanical strength. Recently, light and strong nanostructured titanium alloys and pure titanium have been used as joint endoprostheses, special plates for fixing traumatic areas of tubular bones, conical screws for fixing the spine, implants for dental purposes.

The use of Ti in implantology is explained by the almost complete, unlike other materials, biological compatibility of this metal and some of its alloys with living tissues.

The solution of the problem of the optimal ratio of strength characteristics with maximum biological compatibility is possible based on the use of metallic nanostructured materials.

Nanomaterials have been tested at the present time in the production of medicines, preparations, and vitamins. In particular, ferromagnetic liquids containing iron and nickel nanopowders are promising for the treatment of a number of oncological diseases. It is also possible to create drugs based on iron nanopowder with a prolonged action for the treatment of diseases of the hematopoietic organs, for the healing of wounds, stomach ulcers.

Ferrofluid is a liquid that is strongly polarized in the presence of a magnetic field.

Ferrofluids consist of nanometer-sized ferromagnetic particles suspended in a carrier liquid, which is usually an organic solvent or water. To ensure the stability of such a liquid, ferromagnetic nanoparticles are associated with a surfactant that forms a protective shell around the particle and prevents them from sticking together (due to van der Waals or magnetic forces)

Fire-fighting dressings with the use of silver nanopowder showed high efficiency, which makes it possible to exclude dressings from healing time. This feature significantly reduces the recovery time and minimizes pain.

Created a new type of dressing material. This material consists of a fibrous matrix to which agglomerates of aluminum oxide hydroxide nanofibers are attached. Nanofibers are formed during the hydrolysis of aluminum powder obtained by an electric explosion, they have a huge sorption capacity and positive electric charge. As a result, microorganisms are attracted to the fibers and can no longer leave the bandage. To enhance the antiseptic effect, 0.003 wt. % silver.

Tests have shown that the dressing collects 99.99% of the microorganisms present in the wound and helps it heal faster. In this case, resistant strains of microorganisms are not formed, as is the case with the use of drugs.

Very convenient for practical use are radiopaque suture materials, which are silk, lavsan or nylon threads with a layer of nanodispersed tungsten applied to them using a special technology.

Another equally important area of ​​using materials containing polydisperse fillers in their composition is the creation of products based on them with radiopaque properties, which are widely used in medical practice. For example, at present, radiopaque surgical sutures are made either from highly filled synthetic compositions, which is not always safe for the patient, or by weaving contrasting metal fibers into a textile base. Radiopaque textile materials for medical purposes. At the same time, facts such as Negative influence filler material on living tissue, the destruction of the threads, the deterioration of their mechanical properties.

Suture surgical materials, which were made by processing in polydisperse media, are free from almost all of these shortcomings. In the experiments, chemically pure tungsten with a particle size of 10-6 m or less was chosen as a metal filler, and threads of various origins, in particular, natural silk, viscose silk, cotton, linen, polyester, capron, and others, were chosen as the carrier base.

Threads treated in polydisperse media were subjected to various types sterilization, kept for a long time in neutral and biologically active environments, introduced into the body of experimental animals. The studies were carried out for six months. Visual observations of experimental rats did not reveal a negative reaction of living tissue to the filler material that is part of the threads, and control X-ray studies show that the contrast of the threads practically did not change over the entire period of research. On radiographs, the image blackening density of threads with an optical diameter of 0.2 - 0.3 mm was at the level of 0.05 mm Pb, and a thread with a diameter of 0.5 - 0.7 mm in contrast on x-rays is not inferior to a similar thread of the brand "Micropake - 600 ” made in the UK

The threads can be used in surgery as a suture material, they can be used as markers for napkins and tampons used in intracavitary surgical interventions, skin or intracavitary markers for diagnostics or radiation therapy can be made from them, they can be introduced into the material of catheters for interventional radiology.

Adsorbents- highly dispersed natural or artificial materials with a large surface on which adsorption occurs ( Adsorption- the process of thickening of a gaseous or dissolved substance at the interface.)

Nanotechnologies in medicine provide new opportunities for high-quality treatment and examination of patients.

Recent developments by researchers have taken medicine to a new level.

In the article we will tell you what breakthroughs in science have happened recently.

Up-to-date information that healthcare professionals need to know.

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The main thing in the article

Nanotechnology: new opportunities

The use of nanotechnology in medicine expands the usual methods of treating patients. Thus, traditional medicine continues to use needles, capsules and tablets that deliver medicinal preparations to the patient's body that affect healthy cells and organs.

However, new developments are able to minimize the risks that introduce medicine only where it is needed - without injections and swallowing unpleasant drugs.

Today, nanomedicine uses "intelligent" particles, which are independent objects ranging in size from 1 to 100 nanometers.

Such an example of drug delivery systems transports the active substances of the drug only to the immediate sources of the disease.

How do such nanotechnologies work in medicine and in which countries are they already used?

The field of science and technology called nanotechnology, the corresponding terminology, appeared relatively recently.

• 1905 Swiss physicist Albert Einstein published a paper in which he proved that the size of a sugar molecule is approximately 1 nanometer. 1931 German physicists Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska created an electron microscope, which for the first time made it possible to study nano-objects. 1959 American physicist Richard Feynman gave his first lecture at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society, entitled "Toys on the floor of the room." He drew attention to the problems of miniaturization, which at that time was relevant in physical electronics, mechanical engineering, and computer science. This work is considered by some to be fundamental in nanotechnology, but some points of this lecture contradict the laws of physics.
• 1968 Alfred Cho and John Arthur, employees of the scientific division of the American company Bell, developed the theoretical foundations of nanotechnology in surface treatment.
• 1974 Japanese physicist Norio Taniguchi at the international conference on industrial production in Tokyo introduced the word "nanotechnology" into scientific circulation. Taniguchi used this word to describe the ultra-fine processing of materials with nanometer precision, he proposed to call it mechanisms that are less than one micron in size. In this case, not only mechanical, but also ultrasonic processing, as well as beams of various kinds (electronic, ionic, etc.) were considered.
• 1982 German physicists Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer created a special microscope to study objects in the nanoworld. It was given the designation SPM (Scanning Probe Microscope). This discovery was of great importance for the development of nanotechnology, as it was the first microscope capable of showing individual atoms (SPM).
• 1985 American physicists Robert Curl, Harold Kroto and Richard Smaley created a technology that allows you to accurately measure objects with a diameter of one nanometer.
• 1986 Nanotechnology has become known to the general public. American futurist Erk Drexler, a pioneer of molecular nanotechnology, published the book "Engines of Creation", in which he predicted that nanotechnology would soon begin to develop actively, postulated the possibility of using nanosized molecules to synthesize large molecules, but at the same time deeply reflected all the technical problems that are now before nanotechnology. Reading this work is essential for a clear understanding of what nanomachines can do, how they will work, and how to build them. Viktor Balabanov. Nanotechnologies. Science of the Future M.: Eksmo, 2009, 256 pages.
• 1989 Donald Eigler, an employee of IBM, laid out the name of his company with xenon atoms.
• 1998 Dutch physicist Seez Dekker created the nanotechnology-based transistor.
• 1999 American physicists James Tour and Mark Reed determined that a single molecule is capable of behaving in the same way as molecular chains.
• year 2000. The US administration supported the creation of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. Nanotechnology research has received government funding. Then $500 million was allocated from the federal budget.
• year 2001. Mark Ratner believes that nanotechnology became a part of human life in 2001. Then two significant events took place: the influential scientific journal Science called nanotechnologies the “breakthrough of the year”, and the influential business magazine Forbes called it “a promising new idea”. Nowadays, in relation to nanotechnologies, the expression "new industrial revolution" is periodically used.

A new interdisciplinary direction of medical science is currently in its infancy. Her methods are just emerging from laboratories, and most of them still exist only in the form of projects. However, most experts believe that these methods will become fundamental in the 21st century.

A number of technologies for the nanomedical industry have already been created in the world. These include - targeted delivery of drugs to diseased cells, laboratories on a chip, new bactericidal agents.

Targeted delivery of drugs to diseased cells allows drugs to reach only diseased organs, avoiding healthy ones, which these drugs can harm. For example, radiation therapy and chemotherapeutic treatment, destroying diseased cells, destroys healthy ones. The solution to this problem implies the creation of some kind of "transport" for drugs, variants of which have already been proposed by a number of institutes and scientific organizations.

Laboratories on a chip, developed by a number of companies, allow you to very quickly carry out the most complex analyzes and obtain results, which is extremely necessary in critical situations for the patient. These laboratories, produced by leading companies in the world, allow you to analyze the composition of blood, establish the relationship of a person by DNA, Suzdalev. I P. Nanotechnology M.--Komkniga, 2006 - 592 pages to determine toxic substances. The technologies for creating such chips are similar to those used in the production of microcircuits, adjusted for three-dimensionality. Pool Jr., Ch. Nanotechnologies : textbook / Ch. Pool, F. Owens. - Ed. 4th, rev. and additional - M.: Technosfera, 2009. - 335 pages.

New bactericidal agents are created on the basis of the use useful properties a number of nanoparticles. So, for example, the use of silver nanoparticles is possible in the purification of water and air, or in the disinfection of clothing and special coatings.

In the future, any molecules will be assembled like a children's designer. For this, it is planned to use nano-robots (nanobots). Any chemically stable structure that can be described can, in fact, be constructed. Since a nanobot can be programmed to build any structure, in particular to build another nanobot, they will be very cheap. Working in huge groups, nanobots will be able to create any objects with low cost and high accuracy.

In medicine, the problem of using nanotechnologies lies in the need to change the structure of the cell at the molecular level, i.e. to carry out "molecular surgery" with the help of nanobots.

It is expected the creation of molecular robotic doctors that can "live" inside the human body, eliminating all damage that occurs, or preventing the occurrence of such.