Researchers from the tomsk university of technology school of nuclear technology engineering and the new production technology engineering school have teamed up with leading foreign experts in the field of medical materials to develop a method for synthesizing nano catheters using
titanium dioxide. The tubes are coated with calcium phosphate, the same composition as human bones. Calcium phosphate coating can improve the survival rate of titanium bone grafts and ensure new channels for drugs to enter the market.
Titanium is now widely used in the production of implants, but because of its elastic value, it is much tougher than bone tissue, the researchers note. So when the patient moves, titanium carries more mechanical load than bone, which can lead to bone tissue damage.
"Nano catheters help solve this problem," said Roman cernozem, a graduate student at tomsk university of technology's school of nuclear engineering. They seem to grow on the surface of the graft in a uniform layer-a unique boundary between bone and titanium. The nano catheter does not allow titanium to carry more mechanical load than bone tissue."
Nanowires are hollow cylinders made of titanium dioxide ranging in length from tens of nanometers to 8-10 microns long. Nanowires can be synthesized on the surface of other alloys. To keep the patient's body from rejecting the xenograft, the nanotubes will be made in the same way as human bones, with calcium phosphate coating. Hollow nanotubes are also ideal for filling up with drugs and delivering them with implants to the parts of the body that need them.
"Nano catheters help control the speed at which drugs are delivered to the patient's body," explains Roman sulmenev, director of the technical center at tomsk university of technology, who led the project. If they are coated with amorphous calcium phosphate, the drug can be dissolved within a week to a month. In the future, this technology will be applicable to the treatment and rehabilitation of each patient, during which the type of implant nano catheter needed for each specific case will be selected."
