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Nanotechnological proposal of RBC
Molecular manufacturing promises precise control of
matter at the atomic and molecular level. One major implication of this
realization is that in the next 10-30 years it may become possible to
construct machines on the micron scale, comprised of parts on the
nanometer scale.
Subassemblies of such devices may include such useful
robotic components as 100-nm manipulator arms, 400-nm mechanical GHz-clock
computers, 10-nm sorting rotors for molecule-by-molecule reagent
purification, and smooth superhard surfaces made of atomically flawless
diamond.
Such technology has clear medical implications. It
would allow physicians to perform precise interventions at the cellular
and molecular level. Medical nanorobots have been proposed for
gerontological applications, in pharmaceutical research, and to diagnose
diseases ,mechanically reverse atherosclerosis, supplement the immune
system, rewrite DNA sequences in vivo, repair brain damage, and reverse
cellular insults caused by "irreversible" processes or by
cryogenic storage of biological tissues. The goal of the present paper is
to present one such preliminary design for a specific medical nanodevice
that would achieve a useful result: An artificial mechanical erythrocyte
(red blood cell, RBC), or "respirocyte."
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