Nanodiamonds - chemo w/o inflammation | Arthritis Information

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/19/nanodiamonds.drug s/index.html

Nanodiamonds delivering drugs

Story Highlights

By Gregory Mone

(PopSci.com) -- Granted, they might not be as pretty as their much larger counterparts, but unlike their bold and sparkling brethren, the tiny particles known as nanodiamonds might actually end up doing some good in the world.

 
Scientists at Northwestern University have demonstrated that these relatively new nanomaterials can shuttle chemotherapy drugs to cells without producing the negative effects of today's delivery agents.

Clusters of the nanodiamonds surrounding the drugs block them off from healthy cells, preventing unnecessary damage, and then release them upon reaching the intended targets.

Just as important, the leftover diamonds, hundreds of thousands of which could cram onto the eye of a needle, don't induce inflammation in cells once they've done their job.

The study, the first to demonstrate the usefulness of the material in biomedicine, is published online in Nano Letters. E-mail to a friend

Copyright © 2007 Popular Science

InnerGlow39377.2915277778Oh man, Nano-technology blows my mind. It probably has all these great applications but I always imagine we're going to polute the world wih all these mininscule nano weird things. Especially when it's being used for things like "stain free fabric" and "self cleaning windows". It's like "VaPOOrise"---where do the nano bits go?

Good article, thanks for sharing!

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