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Radio-controlled cancer treatment
Single walled carbon nanotubes are showing great promise in a number of
medical applications. These devices, already proving highly
applicable in the electronics sector for transistor channels, field
emission displays, touch-screen displays and heat sinks, are being used
in the medical sector to destroy cancer cells.
A successful experiment in the US involves injecting single-walled carbon nanotubes directly into a cancerous tumour and then applying radio waves externally from a specially constructed RF generator. The result was that the carbon nanotubes immediately destroyed the cancer cells. There was some damage to surrounding healthy tissue, prompting continued investigation into more precise methods of locating the nanomaterials. Experiments involving just injecting carbon nanotubes, or only applying the RF field did not destroy the cancer cells. The radio waves are known to pass harmlessly through the body without a target, such as the carbon nanotubes.
Research elsewhere in the US is showing the same potential 'activation' of carbon nanotubes through the application of near infra-red light. Specific peptides are applied to the carbon nanotubes, which, when in contact with the target cells, release free radicals when exposed to the light, which destroy the cells.
Meanwhile, investigative work in the UK is getting much closer to determining the potential toxicity of nanomaterials such as single-walled carbon nanotubes. The university researchers have employed advanced imaging techniques to distinguish between the carbon nanotubes and adjacent carbon-rich cell tissues. A combination of energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy and confocal microscopy techniques were used to generate image maps of the characteristic energy loss information, as electrons pass through the sample. Important information has been gathered on the effect of the carbon nanotubes on the cell structure over time, and when the nanomaterial enters the cell cytoplasm and nucleus.
A successful experiment in the US involves injecting single-walled carbon nanotubes directly into a cancerous tumour and then applying radio waves externally from a specially constructed RF generator. The result was that the carbon nanotubes immediately destroyed the cancer cells. There was some damage to surrounding healthy tissue, prompting continued investigation into more precise methods of locating the nanomaterials. Experiments involving just injecting carbon nanotubes, or only applying the RF field did not destroy the cancer cells. The radio waves are known to pass harmlessly through the body without a target, such as the carbon nanotubes.
Research elsewhere in the US is showing the same potential 'activation' of carbon nanotubes through the application of near infra-red light. Specific peptides are applied to the carbon nanotubes, which, when in contact with the target cells, release free radicals when exposed to the light, which destroy the cells.
Meanwhile, investigative work in the UK is getting much closer to determining the potential toxicity of nanomaterials such as single-walled carbon nanotubes. The university researchers have employed advanced imaging techniques to distinguish between the carbon nanotubes and adjacent carbon-rich cell tissues. A combination of energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy and confocal microscopy techniques were used to generate image maps of the characteristic energy loss information, as electrons pass through the sample. Important information has been gathered on the effect of the carbon nanotubes on the cell structure over time, and when the nanomaterial enters the cell cytoplasm and nucleus.
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