© 1999 Robert A. Freitas Jr. All Rights Reserved.

Robert A. Freitas Jr., Nanomedicine, Volume I: Basic Capabilities, Landes Bioscience, Georgetown, TX, 1999

7.2.1 Chemical Broadcast Communication

Chemical broadcast communication is widely used in the human body, as for example, in cellular communications using cytokines and other mechanisms (Section 7.4.5), hormones, neuropeptides, immune system components and pheromones. Consider the simple case of in vivo nanorobots attempting to communicate with each other exclusively by chemical means. In this model, the sender releases a coded messenger molecule of some type into the cytosol, interstitial fluid, or bloodstream, and this molecule travels via diffusion and convective transport to its intended recipient, whereupon the messenger molecule is recognized, absorbed and decoded.

Last updated on 18 February 2003