NANOTECHNOLOGY FOR ARTIFICIAL REDBLOODCELL (OR) SYNTHETIC RBC

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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 also referred to as molecular manufacturing

Nanotechnology has the potential for a nearly limitless number of applications in a wide range of fields such as physics, biology, engineering, chemistry, and computer science

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• The artificial red blood cell or Respirocyte

• Proposed here is a blood borne spherical 1-micron diamondoid 1000-atm pressure vessel

• An onboard nanocomputer and numerous chemical and pressure sensors enable complex device behaviours remotely reprogrammable by the physician via externally applied acoustic signals

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With active pumping powered by endogenous serum glucose, able to deliver 236 times more oxygen to the tissues per unit volume than natural red cells and to manage carbonic acidity

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• There are three main storage tank - one for oxygen , another for carbon dioxide and third for ballast water

• An onboard chemo mechanical turbine or fuel cell generates power by combining glucose drawn from the bloodstream and oxygen drawn from internal storage

• This is converted to mechanical power which drives molecular sorting rotors and other subsystems, as demonstrated in principle by a variety of biological motor systems such as bacteria flagella

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• Each power plant develops 0.3 Pico watts of power

• That's enough energy to fill the oxygen tank in 10 seconds from empty, a pumping rate of 100 million molecules/sec

• The average male human body has 28.5 trillion red blood cells, each containing 270 million hemoglobin molecules binding four O2 molecules per hemoglobin

• However, since hemoglobin normally operates between 95% saturation (arterial) and 70% saturation (venous), only 25% of stored oxygen is accessible to the tissues

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Continue…..• Each respirocyte stores up to 1.51

billion oxygen molecules, 100% of which are accessible to the tissues

• To fully duplicate human blood active capacity, we have to deploy 5.36 trillion devices

• 1 liter of 50% respirocyte suspension, which puts 954 trillion devices into your bloodstream. You could then hold your breath for 3.8 hours, at the normal resting metabolic rate

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• Respirocytes can provide a temporary replacement for natural blood cells in the case of an emergency

• If an individual has lost access to a natural oxygen supply due to drowning, choking or any other

• 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

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• At least four haemoglobin formulations and one fluorocarbon are in Phase I safety trials, and one company has filed an application to conduct an efficacy trial 

• Most of the red cell substitutes under trial at present have far too short a survival time in the circulation to be useful in the treatment of chronic anaemia

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• The ability to build products by molecular manufacturing would create a radical improvement in the manufacture of technologically advanced products

• Respirocytes could also be used as a complete or partial symptomatic treatment for virtually all forms of anemia

• Respirocytes can deliver oxygen to muscle tissue faster than the lungs

• Respirocytes can also be used for other problems with gasses in the bloodstream

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• Article on Nanotechnology and Medicine by Ralph C. Merkle

• A somewhat abbreviated version of this paper was ultimately published in 1998 as: Robert A. Freitas Jr., "Exploratory Design in Medical Nanotechnology: A Mechanical Artificial Red Cell,“ Artificial Cells, Blood Substitutes, and Immobil. Biotech. 26(1998):411-430. Portions of the 1996 paper differ slightly from the 1998 published version

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