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Thursday, 15th December 2005 (6174 views)

Researchers have used gold to coat a revolutionary new delivery system for medications and cell therapy, TMCnet has reported.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have come up with a self-assembling perforated microcontainer that experts think could be deployed as a delivery system.

Tests carried out showed that the hollow cubes can successfully carry and release microbeads and live cells, which are regularly used in medical treatment.

The cube-shaped containers – which are no bigger than a speck of dust – were coated with gold.

The precious metal was used to limit the danger of toxicity problems within the body.

The metallic nature of the cubes will also allow the container's location in the body to be easily tracked using resonance imaging.

It is hoped the innovation could mark a scientific breakthrough, as the microcontainers can be mass-produced harnessing basic chemistry and electronics techniques at a relatively low cost.

The test results are published in the December 2005 issue of Biomedical Microdevices.

 

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