a.
The Auto-generating Osteoprosthetic
poly(lactide-co-glycolide) >
The prosthesis that we propose
will consist of a titanium prosthetic in the shape of the original bone.
A synthetic compound (poly(lactide-co-glycolide)) will take the place of the
growth plate in the prosthetic. This polymer will be the scaffolding that
will allow the prosthetic to grow. Three different nanobots will be
responsible for mimicking human bone formation.
Nanobot-1 will act like an
osteoblast. It will respond to the presence of
poly(lactide-co-glycolide) and will fill the spaces between the scaffolding
with calcium, phosphorous and a permanent protein scaffold.
Nanobot-2 will act like an
osteoclast removing the decomposed poly(lactide-co-glycolide) that has been
replaced by the protein scaffold.
Nanobot-3 will respond to the
IGF-1 and IGF-II levels in the body. It will take the
poly(lactide-co-glycolide) harvested by Nanobot-2 and use it to make new
scaffolding within the epiphyseal plate. The bone growth is controlled
by a negative feedback loop.
Once the IGF-I and IGF-II levels
in the body drop, Nanobot-3 stops making scaffolding, which ceases bone
growth.
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