NANOROBOTS IN NEUROLOGY

P. Sarath Chandra, Dept. of ME, URCE,

Member of Students’ chapter, IE(I).

Nano-Technology

Nanotechnology can be defined as the science and engineering involved in the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of materials and devices whose smallest functional organization, in at least one dimension, is on the nanometer scale or one billionth of a meter, and the promise that nanotechnology brings is multifaceted, not only offering improvements to the current techniques but also providing entirely new tools and capabilities.

Nanotechnology, it has become an increasingly promising area of research and development which has the potential to revolutionize medical sciences.

Current research of Nano medicine focuses on its uses as drug delivery devices, through the utilization of buckminsterfullerene, which we term as Nano robots.

Nano- Robot

Nano robot is a term used to describe future microscopic robots that could have a wide range of uses.

Nanotechnology as a science has evolved from notions and speculation to emerge as a prominent combination of science and engineering, which stands to impact innumerable aspects of technology. Such a prudential work has been coined in the field of medicine esp. in neuro surgery. Nanorobots using molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is going to change the future and offer possible future technologies for Neuro sciences & Neuro engineering.

Nano techniques

Various Nano techniques will make substantial contributions to the advancement of neurosurgery in the near future, such as :(1) Nano manipulation, (2) Nano imaging,(3) Non-surgical Nano repair and(4) Nanoneuromodulation.

Neurological NanorobotsNano robots are injectors, containing a yellow liquid that they can inject using their needle tip. They could be treating a brain disease. The Nano robots use propellers to move in the surrounding liquid. The nerve cells have a central cell body (that can be as large as 0.1 millimeters across), with thin threads (axons and dendrites) forming the connections of the neural network.

Used for target drug delivery

Advanced nanorobots will keep all human body cells in perfect repair, preventing disease and aging.

Nano Scaling

Bottom-up approach• these systems are built from single

atoms or molecules assembled chemically.

Top-down approach• these nanostructures are created

from splitting down larger systems to its base elements.

Three things that must occur in parallel for nanotechnology applications in neurology and neurosurgery to come to fruition are:

advances in chemistry and materials science that produce ever more sophisticated synthetic and characterization approaches

advances in the molecular biology, neurophysiology, and neuropathology of the nervous system and

the design and integration of specific nanoengineered applications to the nervous system, which take advantage of the first two points.

Brain-Computer Interaction

Cell repair by nanorobot using MNT

Illustrated here is a cell repair robot called a chromallocyte. After the chromallocyte (in upper half of picture) locates and docks with the cell nucleus (in lower half of picture), it extends a tool-tipped robotic arm into the nucleoplasm. The job of this nanorobot is to replace old damaged chromosomes with new ones in every cell.

Psychiatry will have to develop new ways of understanding the cyborgian mind. Psychopharmaceuticals are being developed now to try to control cognitive and affective traits, and it is likely that BCIs will be able to have similar effects. We already see the beginning of that process with the use of deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders. The ability to access the brain, to understand its inner workings, to connect it to external devices, promises remarkable resources to aid the infirm as well as worrisome opportunities to cause harm. It is important to develop these technologies with a careful eye towards using them responsibly.

Nanorobot’s sensor identification

Conclusions

Nanotechnology has proven to great potential for providing neurotherapeutic modalities to limit and reverse the neuropathology by supporting and promoting functional regeneration of damaged neurons, providing neuroprotection, and facilitating the delivery of neuroactives such as drugs, genes and cells across boundaries.

Hope in better future, these technologies could create a drastic change in human life and life style and it can be possible to treat and cure deadly diseases like cancer, tumor, psychological problems, cell repair, non-bleeding surgeries etc

Referenceshttp://www.alcor.org/Library/html/MNTscenario.html

http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/348330/view

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2958320

The Year in Neurology 2, Volume 2 by Richard T. Johnson

APNF Asia Pacific Nanotechnology Forum News Journal Vol 6, No. 1, January 2007

Nanorobot control design by Adriano Cavalcanti