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

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

9.4.4 Histonatation

Histonatation, or swimming through biological tissues, will be necessary for medical nanorobots that need to reach a specific histological or cellular target to begin diagnostic or repair work. Each tissue that must be traversed has its own unique set of biochemical, immunochemical, mechanical, electrokinetic, and other characteristics that will affect the precise mode and manner of locomotion. A complete survey of all possible tissue types is beyond the scope of this book. This Section briefly considers a few important issues in the following general circumstances -- exiting endothelial-cell-lined blood vessels to enter the tissues (Section 9.4.4.1), passage through largely acellular tissue (Section 9.4.4.2), passage through cell-dense tissue (Section 9.4.4.3), and tissue-resident nanorobot conjugation and partition (Section 9.4.4.4).

Last updated on 21 February 2003