Community
Products
Complications & Care
Food
Columns
Medications
Research
Fitness
Monitoring
Health Care
Psychology
Legal
Celebrities
Pregnancy
About Us
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT Diabetes Health E-Newsletter

Discuss this Topic in the Forum

See What's Inside…

See the entire table of contents here!

View Diabetes Health Magazine For Free Online

You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View

Free Subscription to Diabetes Health Professional

If you are a physician, educator and medical professional who focus on the treatment of diabetes, then this is the must have resource for you.

Finally! A fresh take on the “professional” journal. Each bi-monthly issue cuts through the jargon and presents the most important information you need to enhance your practice and assist your patients.

Each bi-monthly issue of Diabetes Health Professional is a self-contained handbook covering products, educational resources and the latest diabetes research, complimented by balanced editorial focused on medical news, drug prescription information, clinical practice recommendations and changing treatment options.

Each quarter we send you the latest, most updated research guides, product guides and educational resource guides available for you and your patients.

Learn More About the Professional Subscription

ADVERTISEMENT
Diabetes Health E-Newsletter

Each week the Diabetes Health E-Newsletter delivers links to the very latest in news, reviews, blogs and videos from Diabetes Health direct to your inbox.

See an example E-Newsletter

As a subscriber you'll get access to the amazing Diabetes Health Digital Advantage™ so you can read the current issue of Diabetes Health magazine online wherever you are!

Email Address:
Area of Interest:
How To Change Your Newsletter Email…

You can cancel your newsletter subscription at anytime by clicking "Unsubscribe" on the bottom of any newsletter you receive

Then enter your new email address in the above form and click "Subscribe"

ADVERTISEMENT
Diabetes Health Recipes
Latest
Popular
Top Rated
Diabetes Health Reference Charts
Type 2 Issues Archives
Print | Email | Share | Comments (2)

The device contains a drug-filled membrane that is also embedded with nanoparticles of magnetite, a naturally magnetic mineral. The nanoparticles are about 1/100,000th the width of a human hair.

Nanotechnology and Magnetism Work Together to Deliver Drugs

Patrick Totty
Oct 3, 2009

Researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston think that they may have created the most reliable means yet of delivering drugs that cannot be taken orally. Their solution is to combine  nanotechnology and magnetism to create a delivery system that is simple, but extremely durable and accurate.

Diabetes and other medical conditions often require long-term treatment with drugs that cannot be taken orally and must be administered on an as-needed basis. The problem with current long-term drug delivery systems is their lack of total reliability when it comes to delivering consistent doses and bearing up under repeated on-off demands.

The Boston researchers' solution is a small implantable device, less than a half inch in diameter, that is placed in a patient's body. The device contains a drug-filled membrane that is also embedded with nanoparticles of magnetite, a naturally magnetic mineral. The nanoparticles are about 1/100,000th the width of a human hair.

When an external magnetic field switches on near the device, the nanoparticles heat up. Gels in the membrane become warm from the heat and temporarily collapse, opening pores that allow the drug to pass into the body. When the magnetic field is turned off, the nanoparticles cool and the membrane gels re-expand, blocking further entry of the drug into the patient's system. 

One great advantage of the system, says the researchers, is that it doesn't require electronic circuitry or mechanisms that can be damaged or rendered inaccurate by bodily processes. The nanoparticles, which are basically simple on-off switches, do all of the mechanical work and are affected only by magnetism. Because the membranes that hold the medications and nanoparticles do not respond to body heat, fevers and inflammation cannot cause them to deliver drugs inadvertently. Only the heat created by the magnetite nanoparticles when they are "on," which is much higher than body temperature, can make the membrane respond.

The amount of the drug that a patient receives can be controlled by how long the magnetic field is applied. Longer pulses produce higher doses. Theoretically, diabetes patients using such a system would be able to self-administer insulin simply by passing a magnetic field near their implanted drug delivery devices for a set amount of time.

Tests of the new technology thus far have been on animal subjects. The use of nanotechnology and magnetism in human subjects may still be years away. But the Boston experiment shows how the application of simple physics may provide a reliable, simple, even empowering, way for patients with special drug needs to dose themselves. 

Source:

Press Release


Categories: Research, Type 1 Issues, Type 2 Issues


Donate to Diabetes Health
Recommend this :

Average Rating:


You May Also Be Interested In...


Click Here To View Or Post Comments

Comment 2 comments - Oct 3, 2009 - * * * * *