ARTIFICIAL RED BLOOD CELLS (RBC) USING NANOTECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT:
Nanotechnology, "the manufacturing technology of the 21st century," will let us economically build a broad range of complex molecular machines. It is the field of science and engineering whose ultimate aim is to build robots smaller than living cells with the ability to arrange individual atoms into any physically possible pattern to suit human purposes. Nanotechnology is defined as the fabrication of devices with precision to the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). This scale yields precision on the atomic or molecular scale. Nanotechnology is 1

a result of the intersection of diverse fields such as physics, biology, engineering, chemistry, and computer science to name a few. The papers prime objective is to present about nanotechnology and the application of nanotechnology to medical field. The paper primarily presents about the nanorobots that help in medical field applications to a lot in concise. Later we focus in detail on the application of nanotechnology in constructing the artificial red blood cell and the application of nanotechnology in killing cancer cells. The paper describes nanotechnologys potential to make active contribution in medical field. Later the paper concentrates on the other applications of the nanotechnology in various fields and then concentrates on the research work taking place in this field. Then we conclude the paper by hoping that the new advancements in the nanotechnology will help in making the life of humans more easy and safe from diseases.

ARTIFICIAL RED BLOOD CELLS USING NANO TECHNOLOGY Contents: 1. Introduction to Nanotechnology
1.1 What is Nanotechnology? 1.2 History of Nanotechnology

2. Nanotechnology in Medicine
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2.1 Nanobots used in Medicine 2.2 Size of Nanobots used.

3. Nanotechnology for Developing Artificial Red Blood Cells.

3.1 Introduction to application. 3.2 Design of the Artificial Red Blood Cell. 3.3 Bodys Immunity System. 3.4 Comparing size of Normal Red Blood Cell to Artificial. 3.5 Calculation Showing the Efficiency of Artificial Red Blood Cells. 3.6 Working of the Artificial Red Blood Cells. 3.7 Advancement to the application. 3.8 Result of Failure in Artificial RBC.

4. Other Applications of Nanotechnology 5. Future of Nanotechnology 6. Conclusion 7. Bibliography

1 Introduction to Nanotechnology
1.1 What is Nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is defined as the fabrication of devices with precision to the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). This scale yields precision on the atomic or molecular scale. Because of this, nanotechnology is also referred to as molecular manufacturing. Nanotechnology is a result of the intersection of diverse fields such as physics, biology, engineering, chemistry, and computer science to name a few. Nanotechnology marks a drastically different approach in manufacturing. Instead of scaling materials down to create something, nanotechnology produces things by building them up piece by piece on a molecular level by providing broad scope. 3

Nanotechnology has the potential for a nearly limitless number of applications in a wide range of fields. One such field is computer science, in which nanotechnology presents a new challenge. Computer chips are shrinking by a factor of four every three years (Moores law. Another field in which nanotechnology has a wide reach of potential effects is medicine. Molecular manipulation would aid in killing off cancer cells. Telecommunications is another field in which nanotechnology will yield advances. Nanotechnology will allow a telephone or computer to connect to the global data network using inexpensive string or tape.

1.2 History of Nanotechnology

The origins of nanotechnology are rooted in a lecture given in 1959 by Richard P. Feyman entitled Theres Plenty of Room at the Bottom. Although the ideas presented in this lecture were wholly theoretically at the time, Feyman stated that the laws of physics do not prevent us from manipulating individual atoms or molecules. Feymans theory of working from the macroscopic level down to the microscopic level still holds today, and it is the driving force as scientists expand research in this field.

2. Nanotechnology in Medical field:

Nanotechnology became a driving force in todays medical field. Many new applications are evolving day by day using the help of nanotechnology. Medical field is using nanotechnologys success to plethora. Nanobots are created using the technology and these devices have the capability of scanning entire body and look at the flaws present in the body and to recover them to the maximum limit.

2.1 Nanobots used in medicine:

Nanobots used in medical field help in traversing through blood vessels in the Circulatory system. They are capable of detecting the tumors and also can cure them to certain extent. They are designed to such accuracy that they can go to the correct position using the GPS and can perform the necessary operation that is intended to perform. The below depicted prototype is collected from an article featured in the Computer Graphics and Geometry Journal. Here, we see nanorobot delivering a molecule to the organ inlet -represented by the white cylinder.

The prototype shows the nanorobot that is traversing through the blood vessels. Now we look at the size of the nanorobots that are depicted in the diagram in concise.

2.2 Size of Nanobots used:

Drexler proposed for molecular mechanical logic that including system overheads (power, connections, etc) the volume per element should still be less than 100 cubic nanometers. A 10,000 element logic system (enough to hold a small processor) would occupy a cube no more than 100 nanometers on a side. That is, a volume only slightly larger than 0.001 cubic microns would be sufficient to hold a small computer. This compares favorably with the volume of a typical cell (thousands of cubic microns) and is even substantially smaller than sub cellular organelles. Operating continuously at a gigahertz such a computer would use less than 10^-9 watts. By comparison, the human body uses about 100 watts at rest and more during exercise. Slower operation and the use of would reduce power consumption, quite possibly dramatically. A variety of molecular sensors and actuators would also fit in such a volume. A molecular "robotic arm" less than 100 nanometers long should be quite feasible, as well as molecular binding sites 10 nanometers in size or less. A single red blood cell is about 8 microns in diameter (over 80 times larger in linear dimensions than our 100 nanometer processor). Devices of the size range suggested above (~0.1 microns) would easily fit in the circulatory system and would even be able to enter individual cells.

3. Nanotechnology for developing Artificial Red Blood Cells:

Nanotechnology has the potential of unlimited number of applications in medical field and we now deal in detail about nanotechnologies potential in developing Artificial Red- Blood Cellsdesign of Artificial Red Blood Cells and their efficiency compared to the

normal Red Blood Cells working of the developed Artificial Red Blood Cells their use in the medical field.

3.1 Introduction to application:

The application is to provide metabolic support in the event of impaired circulation. Poor blood flow, caused by a variety of conditions, can result in serious tissue damage. A major cause of tissue damage is inadequate oxygen. A simple method of improving the levels of available oxygen despite reduced blood flow would be to provide an "artificial red blood cell." This may help to perform the metabolic activities for some time even during irregularities.

3.2 Design of the Artificial Red Blood Cell:

Artificial Red Blood Cell.

A sphere with an internal diameter of 0.1 microns (100 nanometers) filled with high pressure oxygen at 1,000 atmospheres (about 10^8 Pascals approx). The oxygen would be allowed to trickle out from the sphere at a constant rate (without feedback). Diamond has a Youngs modulus of about 10^12 Pascals. An atomically precise diamonded structure should be able to tolerate a stress of greater than 5 x 10^10 Pascals (5% of the modulus). Thus, a 0.1 micron sphere of oxygen at a pressure of 10^8 Pascals could be contained by a hollow diamonded sphere with an internal diameter of 0.1 microns and a thickness of less than one nanometer. This thickness, thin as it is, results in an applied stress on the diamond of well under 1% of its modulus -- from a purely structural point of view we should be able to use a very large "bulky ball," i.e., a sphere whose surface is a single layer of graphite.

3.3 Escaping Bodys Immunity System:

The other most complex issue involved in the selection of the material is the reaction of the body's immune system. While some suitable surface structure should exist that does not trigger a response by the immune system. To give a feeling for the range of possible surface structures, the hydrogenated diamond (111) surface could have a variety of "camouflaged" molecules covalently bound to its surface. A broad range of biological molecules could be anchored to the surface, either directly or via polymer tethers.

3.4 Comparing size of Normal Red Blood Cell to Artificial RBC:

The picture shown above clearly shows the variation of size present between the normal red blood cells and artificial red blood cells. The small balls that are depicted are the artificial red blood cells and the large ones are the normal red blood cells. Due to this scaling down of the devices they are able to traverse through the blood vessels and the circulatory system. The Artificial Red blood cells are highly efficient when compared to the normal red blood cells in maintaining metabolism. The efficiency of these miniature devices is dealt in detail in the section following.

3.5 Calculation Showing the Efficiency of Artificial Red Blood Cells:

By Vander Waals equation of state: (p+a/V^2)(V-b)=RT Where p is the pressure, V is the volume per mole, R is the universal gas constant, T is the temperature in Kelvins, and a and b are constants specific to the particular gas involved. For oxygen, a = 1.36 atm liter^2/mole^2 and b = 0.03186 liter/mole and R = 0.0820568 liter-atmospheres/mole-Kelvin. 7

A mole of oxygen at 1,000 atmospheres and at body temperature (310 Kelvins) occupies 0.048 liters, or about 21moles/liter. A mole of oxygen at 1 atmosphere and 310 Kelvins occupies 25.4 liters, or about 0.04moles/liter. This implies a compression of 530 to 1(approx).

A resting human uses 240cc/minute (approx) of oxygen, so a liter of oxygen compressed to 1,000 atmospheres should be sufficient to maintain metabolism for about 36 hours. By comparison, a liter of blood normally contains 0.2 liters of oxygen (approx), while one liter of our spheres contained 530 liters of oxygen (where "liter of oxygen" means, human oxygen consumption, one liter of the gas under standard conditions of temperature and pressure). Thus, our spheres are over 2,000 times more efficient per unit volume than blood; taking into account that blood is only about half occupied by red blood cells, our spheres (artificial RBC) are over 1,000 times more efficient than red blood cells.

3.6 Working of the Artificial Red Blood Cells:

Controlled release of oxygen from the diamonded sphere could be done using the selective transport method proposed by Drexler and is illustrated in figure 1. Figure 1 shows transport in the "wrong" direction (for this application), but simply reversing the direction of rotor motion (anti clock wise direction) would result in transport from inside the reservoir to the external fluid. By driving a rotor at the right speed, oxygen could be released from the internal reservoir into the external environment at the desired rate.

Fig 1 Artificial RBC. The oxygen molecules would be released out side at a constant rate depending on the need present at that time. This is calculated by the sensors that are present at the outer side of the artificial red blood cell. More sophisticated systems would release oxygen only when the 8

measured external partial pressure of oxygen fell below a threshold level, and so could be used as an emergency reserve that would come into play only when normal circulation was interrupted. Full replacement of red blood cells would involve the design of devices able to absorb and compress oxygen when the partial pressure was above a high threshold (as in the lungs) while releasing it when the partial pressure was below a lower threshold (as in tissues using oxygen). In this case, selective transport of oxygen into an internal reservoir (by, for example, the method shown in Figure 1) would be required. If a single stage did not provide a sufficiently selective transport system, a multi-staged or cascaded system could be used. Compression of oxygen would presumably require a power system, perhaps taking energy from the combustion of glucose and oxygen (thus permitting free operation in tissue). Release of the compressed oxygen should allow recovery of a significant fraction of the energy used to compress it, so the total power consumed by such a device need not be great.

3.7 Advancement to the application:

If the device were to simultaneously absorb carbon dioxide when it was present at high concentrations (in the tissue) and release it when it was at low concentrations (in the lungs), then it would also provide a method of removing one of the major products of metabolic activity. Calculations similar to those given above imply a human's oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output could both be handled for a period of about a day by about a liter of small spheres. As oxygen is being absorbed by our artificial red blood cells in the lungs at the same time that carbon dioxide is being released, and oxygen is being released in the tissues when carbon dioxide is being absorbed, the energy needed to compress one gas can be provided by decompressing the other. The power system need only make up for losses caused by inefficiencies in this process. These losses could presumably be made small, thus allowing our artificial red blood cells to operate with little energy consumption.

3.8 Result of Failure in Artificial RBC:

There is just one failure that can be observed in concern to the application it is, Failure of a 0.1 micron sphere would result in creation of a bubble of oxygen less than 1 micron in diameter. Occasional failures could be tolerated. Given the extremely low defect rates projected for nanotechnology, such failures should be very infrequent. The failure rate of the Artificial Red Blood Cells is very minimal. This is the best application of Nanotechnology in the medical field. The above described is the latest innovative application of the nanotechnology. As the nanotechnology progresses it helps in achieving high prospects for the medical field. 9

The Nanobots that are used are so powerful that they can scan through every tissue in our body and report the abnormality in our body. With this advancement we can hope for a day where we are resistant to the diseases and are in a stage to ward them off. Thus nanotechnology plays a pivot role in the advancement of medical sciences.

4. Other applications of Nanotechnology:

Nanotechnology has the potential of having unlimited number of applications and here we deal with the application of nanotechnology in various fields. Nanotechnology is used in the computer industry. The basis of todays computers is silicon microchips tiny wafers holding millions of transistors which were made possible by nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has a wide reach of potential effects is medicine with help of Nanobots can cure the cancer disease of any level. Nanotechnology also finds its usage in the telecommunication field in the easy to connect networks. Nanotechnology finds its application in imaging the body. Nanoprobes help in diagnosing the body and help in finding the abnormality. Nanotechnology also helps in reducing the percentage of heart attacks. A heart attack is mainly due to the clotting in main arteries. Nanorobots act as Shepard in removing these clots and help in avoiding heart attacks. Molecular nanotechnology has the potential to produce space hardware with tremendous improvement in performance and reliability at substantially lower cost.

5. FUTURE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanotechnology is a field still in its infancy, probably years away from practical applications. But a fervent, increasingly influential community of researchers is trying not only to make it a technical reality but a force for social transformation as well. With the kind of Nanobots discussed earlier, we should be able to explore and analyze living systems in greater detail than ever before considered possible. The Autonomous molecular machines, operating in the human body, could monitor levels of different compounds and store that information in internal memory helping in good medical support. Thus nanotechnology faces a bright future and its applications would prosper by the advancement in the technology.

6. CONCLUSION
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Nanotechnology, "the manufacturing technology of the 21st century," enables us to economically build a broad range of complex molecular machines. It will let us build fleets of computer controlled molecular tools much smaller than a human cell and built with the accuracy and precision of drug molecules. As Drexler asserts that molecular manufacturing can produce materials stronger and lighter than anything currently available. Better spacecraft, devices to repair living cells, the ability to heal disease and make the body stronger: all these and more are possible given the potential of nanotechnology. Machines could be produced, down to the size of viruses, which would work at incredible speeds. Through the use of nanotechnology, the number of possible worlds we can create is limited only by what we can imagine. Thus nanotechnology is becoming the part and parcel of the modern technology.

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Article on Nanotechnology and Medicine by Ralph C. Merkle. Webpage of the PHYSICS WEB. WEB PAGES ON GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE.

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