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Detoxing With Magnets for Fun and Profit

Posted by simoniker on from the and-profit-and-fun dept.

Ridgelift writes "Wired has an article on a new way to remove toxins from the bloodstream. The Argonne National Laboratory have designed nanoparticles which 'identify, and then latch onto, target molecules. The nanoparticles are injected into the bloodstream, where they circulate through the body, picking up their target toxins as they go. Once they have made their rounds, all that's needed to remove the particles from the body are a magnet housed in a handheld unit and a small, dual-channel shunt inserted into an arm or leg artery.'"

6 of 287 comments (clear)

  1. MRI by Evil+Adrian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder how long you wouldn't be allowed to get an MRI for... I'd imagine those little beasties would tear you apart if you got one!

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    evil adrian
  2. Re:What about... by KrispyKringle · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I'm no doctor, but I'd make a couple of guesses:

    It seems like if the effectiveness weren't 100%, it may not matter for detox, since it may get the toxin levels below tolerance, but for a virus, it may simply meet as soon as you stop, the virus spreads again.

    It may be far harder to make things to bond to the virus. The particles being bonded to may have well known chemical properties, but it seems like if it were that simple to make things bond to viruses, we'd have little problem treating them, magnet or no.

    Just a guess, though. Anyone here actually know about this stuff? :P

  3. Just to be a little prophetic here by Raul654 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I heard a saying: The 20th century was the century of physics. The 21st century will be the biology and medicine.

    If you think about it, that's amazingly true. At the begining of the 20th century, Think about all we discovered - the atom bomb, computers, television, etc. Contrast that with our treatment of disease, which is rudementary at best. Just wait until genetic therapy become available, or disease attacking bacteriophages, or artificialy grown organs. I think medicine is in for revolution.

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    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
  4. So if that's the case by mcc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I heard a saying: The 20th century was the century of physics. The 21st century will be the biology and medicine.

    What will be the 21st century's analogue of the atom bomb?

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    Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
  5. Re:What about... by Eskarel · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Well the body can produce things which bond to specific viruses those things are called anti-bodies and are relatively effective for most diseases spread by viruses(excluding those which kill too fast or attack the immune system(HIV)) but you're probably right it wouldn't be all that effective and there are probably better ways to do it.

    The thing I would be interested to see is a cancer treatment based on this idea. Not to actually cure cancer since I don't think that's possible with this method but to pick up the cancerous cells in the bloodstream and prevent them from spreading cancer to other parts of the body. A lot of times it's when the cancers have metastecized(no idea of spelling) to other parts of the body that you get the real problems. Not to mention it might reduce the chances of cancer recurring.

  6. Re:What about... by StringBlade · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would be leary about dragging cancerous cells out of the body using magnets unless that magnetic field was strong enough and it could be shown that none of the particles are left behind along the "exit route". If the magnet were to drop any of the cancer cells after relocating them from some other area you may actually be spreading the cancer much faster than it would have done itself.

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    ...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.