Nanotechnology+in+Medicine

Nanotechnology in Medicine

How is it that something so minute can stop life threatening diseases and have medicinal qualities that are way beyond what was previously possible? Prior to the advancements of nanotechnology medical treatment on cellular levels have been almost impossible. The properties of nanoparticles create endless possibility for medical uses like transferring drugs directly to disease affected cells, diagnostics and repairing damaged cells that could induce problematic medical effects. Currently scientists have started experimenting and developing a way to transmit chemotherapy and other therapeutic drugs to cancer tumours through the blood stream. One problem has already been eliminating and that is the fact that white blood cells might pick up the nanoparticles as foreign material but for that some scientists have introduced a solution which is to attach ethylene glycol to the nanoparticle. This allows a longer period of circulation in which the nanoparticle can attach to the tumour. There is also a theory that if one coats the nanoparticles containing therapeutic drugs with membranes from red blood cells, the nanoparticles will circulate for a longer time period in the blood stream. To make the treatment less invasive the nanoparticle can be administrated through the mouth without injections as a capsule. Nano gold particles are another thing that has been a critical medical advancement. How this works is that the Nano gold particles are used as a tool for locating cancer cells and showing them visually using colour changes and light refraction depending on the disease. If one was testing for meningococcal disease which if left untreated can be transmitted and possibly cause death, disability or serious illness. It is a disease that relies on early detection before its effects are detrimental to the host. With Nano gold particles we can test for the disease accurately by adding Nano gold particles to a patient’s blood sample. From there if the meningococcal protein is present, the gold nanoparticles will attach to it and then clump. This clumping will cause a colour change from the original red solution to a blue indicating that the patient is positive for meningococcal disease as meningococcal proteins were evident. If they weren’t affected by the disease, the solution would have remained the intense red colour it was originally. There are still more functions of this multitalented Nano scale technology…. Scientists internationally are developing nanorobots which can be programed to carry out certain tasks and repair specific medically unsafe cells. Nanorobotics can be used to directly access disease cells and repair them without having to circulate in the blood stream until reaching the problem and curing it. Nanotechnology will be the future of medicine and has the potential to save many lives and cure many diseases without being damaging or invasive.