This is how controlled nanorobots work and manage to treat brain aneurysms.

Surely he remembers more than one movie “Miracle Chip” (1987). In it, Dennis Quaid piloted a ship reduced to microscopic size. His first mission was to navigate the bloodstream of a rabbit, but as life happened, Quaid and his ship ended up inside a very hypochondriacal and funny man played by Martin Short. We don’t want to give away any more of the plot of this ’80s classic, but What was once science fiction is now becoming more and more real. The investigation achieved imagine and pilot, or rather lead, an army of nanorobots in areas affected by cerebral aneurysms and prevent or stop hemorrhages. At this point, as was supposed to happen in the film, this was achieved on rabbits. The idea is that in the future similar interventions will be carried out on humans.

Aneurysms cause 500,000 deaths per year.

aneurysms dilation of blood vessels in the artery, which can rupture and cause serious bleedingin many cases destructive and fatal. Aneurysms are responsible for about 500,000 thousand deaths per year around the world, according to researchers of this new discovery. Until now, The most common treatment is quite complex.. An operation must be performed in which a microcatheter is inserted and must pass through the blood vessels until it reaches the aneurysm. A painstaking job that can take several hours of surgery. In case of cerebral aneurysms, this intervention, already complex in itself, is fraught with great difficulties. Small catheters are filled with metal coils that slow blood flow to the aneurysm, or a mesh tube called a stent that diverts blood flow away from the artery.

Magnetic guidance to the aneurysm

Now researchers from University of Edinburgh in the UK and surgeons at the Sixth People’s Hospital in Shanghai, China. have created magnetic nanorobots that can be used to treat aneurysms. These small machines are 20 times smaller than a red blood cell, allowing them to move smoothly and in groups to the affected area. Researchers have developed nanorobots that carry they carry thrombin insidea protein that exists naturally in the blood and is involved in blood clotting. Outside they are covered organic protective coating designed to melt. And in the center of small artifacts are some iron oxide nanoparticles that give it magnetic properties and allow it to target the area of ​​the aneurysm. In experiments on rabbits, scientists injected millions of these tiny robots into an artery. using external magnetic sources and medical images were sent to this area affected. There, as seen in the video of this news, small robots are grouped inside the damage, forming a kind of nest, and are heated until they reach the melting point. When their coating melts, the nanorobots release the thrombin that was blocking the aneurysm, preventing or stopping bleeding in the brain.

More precise treatment in more remote areas

The team that published their study in the journal of nanotechnology Smallsuccessfully tested these devices on a small number of rabbits. Study co-leader Qi Zhou, a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, said this was “an important step in bringing these technologies closer to treating these diseases in clinical practice.” The team also developed nanorobots to remove blood clots, which could be used to treat strokes. The researchers present their new technique as an alternative to the risk of the body rejecting these implanted materials and dependence on anticoagulantswhich can cause bleeding and stomach problems, and also avoids long hours of surgery, which is very artisanal. They also say they will be able to treat larger brain aneurysms that are difficult to stop quickly and safely. For Zhou: “Nanorobots are designed to open new horizons in medicine: They could allow us to perform surgeries with fewer risks than traditional treatments and target medications with millimeter precision to hard-to-reach parts of the body.” “Nanotechnology has been moving toward this future in which tiny robots can be remotely controlled to perform complex tasks inside the human body for almost thirty years, but that future still seems distant.”

Tests on large animals such as sheep or pigs.

next steps of the authors of recent advances in rabbits will test this technology on biggest animalssuch as sheep, pigs and cows, and improve it so that nanorobots can confidently move and reach deeper aneurysms. “The moment when our technology is ready for surgical intervention in People It’s a little vague. We still have a lot to do, but we believe this could revolutionize the treatment of cerebral aneurysms, perhaps in one or two decades– concludes Zhou. Perhaps then “Miracle Chip” will cease to be a futuristic film, and will become something old-fashioned, but worth watching with a certain nostalgia.

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