Chapter 658 Functional Simulation

Although Lu Xuedong's second organ company has invested heavily in research and development, it has not achieved much results.

The problems with artificial organs lie in four aspects: human body rejection, complex organ functions, the service life of artificial organs, and the coordination between artificial organs and the human body.

Regarding the rejection reaction, due to the continuous innovation of technology, there are now many human-friendly materials, and the rejection reaction can basically be overcome.

As for the service life of artificial organs, only one battery problem has been solved so far, that is, the use of extremely safe miniature carbon 14-core batteries, which are like button-sized batteries, which can guarantee the power supply of artificial organs for 80 years.

Since the half-life of carbon 14 is about 5730 years, the theoretical service life of carbon 14 nuclear batteries can also reach 5730 years.

Of course, in actual operation, it is impossible to have such a long service life. This is just the half-life of carbon 14, which can reach 5730 years. But in nuclear batteries, there are not only carbon 14, but also other materials, as well as protective shells, Power systems and the like, there is no way these things can last for thousands of years.

The nuclear battery currently designed has the most cost-effective service life and can be used for about 80 years.

In fact, 80 years is long enough, and other parts of the artificial organ may not necessarily last 80 years. After all, the overall service life of an artificial organ is determined by the shortest part.

The main problem with the current service life of artificial organs is the consumption rate of consumables.

Take artificial kidneys as an example. Apart from consumables, Second Organ's artificial kidneys can be used for more than 50 years.

However, the consumables in the artificial kidney can only last up to 86 days, which means that the consumables need to be replaced every 86 days.

This problem has become the Achilles heel of artificial kidneys.

Even through modification, a pipe and valve system for replacing consumables is left on the waist. This troublesome replacement of consumables is still a problem for every patient.

On the one hand, it is a matter of dignity. After all, if an artificial kidney is installed, it is easy to give people the impression that "this person is not in good health."

On the other hand, it takes an hour or two to replace consumables, and it also requires professional medical staff to operate. You must know that there are many people with kidney disease in China. If there are so many people, consumables must be replaced every 86 days, which will bring trouble to medical institutions. Come with a huge burden.

Although there is basically universal medical insurance now, and a replacement of consumables costs about 200 credits, or 200 Chinese yuan, there are a lot of troubles.

If the time for replacing consumables can be extended, or even replaced permanently, then the artificial kidney does not need to have a valve system.

This pipe and valve system not only has to transform part of the human body, but also leaves an obvious external interface on the waist, which is not friendly at all.

In addition to the above problems, there are still two major problems: organ function simulation and human body coordination.

In terms of human body coordination, thanks to technological advances in brain waves and microelectronics, artificial organs can now perfectly cooperate with the human body without causing conflict or confusion.

Don't think this is a small problem.

If an artificial liver is implanted, it will secrete too little digestive juice when the user eats, which will lead to indigestion; if the user is fasting, it will continue to secrete digestive juice, which may lead to hyperacidity.

The human body is an organic whole, and organs do not work alone, but in coordination with other organs and body tissues.

After the human body coordination problem is solved, the final step is to simulate the function of the artificial organ itself. In fact, this problem is closely related to the above artificial organ consumables.

To simulate all the functions of natural organs, the current chemical industry alone is still unable to do it. Several natural organs that are easier to simulate are the heart, kidneys, liver and eyeballs.

Even these four relatively simple organs are still functional simulations that were barely completed by the Suiren Department in conjunction with the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, and a large number of related companies.

This reluctant simulation has led to the problem of consumables. Many artificial organs themselves cannot supply 100% of the hormones, organic substances, and compounds needed by the human body. They can only be supplemented outside the body, which results in consumables.

For example, the hormones produced by the kidneys include: renin (raises blood pressure), prostaglandins (lowers blood pressure), erythropoietin, 1-hydroxylase (regulates calcium and phosphorus metabolism), and mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids secreted by the adrenal glands. Small amounts of sex hormones.

Artificial kidneys cannot synthesize these seven hormones on their own and can only rely on external supplementation.

Either it is equipped with a hormone system in an artificial kidney; or it is supplemented by taking medicines and injections.

Obviously these two methods are not very good.

According to the ideal situation, artificial organs should have 100% of the functions of natural organs, rather than this half-baked level.

Therefore, micro-hormone synthesis technology has become the only way forward for current artificial organs, and nanotechnology is very promising, promoting the maturity of micro-hormone synthesis technology.

In Huang Xiuyuan's future memory, mechanical artificial organs are also called nano-artificial organs because a large amount of nanotechnology is used on them.

"Let me talk about the idea of ​​artificial organs." Huang Xiuyuan continued:

"Nowadays, if artificial organs want to simulate natural organs, they must ensure that the synthesis of various compounds can be completed independently inside the artificial organs. The most promising direction at present is to use nanotechnology to create a variety of compounds inside the artificial organs. Microchemical factory.”

"..." Fang Tongfeng and others fell into deep thought.

For now, nanorobots can only synthesize simple molecules. The most complex molecule that can be synthesized is a compound composed of 68 atoms, and must go through four processes.

As for the simple and convenient electric field synthesis technology, at the current technical level, the smallest electric field synthesis furnace weighs about 70 kilograms, and coupled with a huge power supply system, it is impossible to insert it into the human body.

As for why Huang Xiuyuan cares so much about the internal self-sustaining synthesis of artificial organs, there are two main reasons. On the one hand, it is to reduce the troubles of users in daily life, and on the other hand, it is just in case.

For example, in a sudden natural disaster, if users of artificial organs need to regularly replace consumables, the consequences may be directly life-threatening.

In a shipwreck, the user is stranded on a desert island; a super volcano erupts, causing serious disaster areas thousands of kilometers away from the user. Users hiding in underground shelters may suffer from various problems because the consumables for artificial organs cannot be replenished in time. question.

These are all possible problems. In addition, if humans want to enter the starry sky, they must consider the issue of physical self-sustainability.

In Huang Xiuyuan's vision, if human beings want to develop greatly in outer space, they must reduce their dependence on the outside of the human body as much as possible.

Artificial organs that require regular replenishment of supplies would create a vulnerability for space immigrants.

In the event of a meteorite impact or a large-scale natural disaster on the immigrant planet, resulting in supply problems, these space immigrants will need to overcome some of the difficulties themselves.

As food is an indispensable thing for human beings, the space base's reserves will not be too small, but this may not necessarily be the case for medicines and the like.

In particular, many hormones and organic drugs have a short validity period. Once they are not replenished, there will be a gap.

Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the human body's dependence on the outside world.

Even with a more extreme idea, when necessary, it is best not to consume food directly, instead use charging to supplement, and then rely on the micro nanofactories inside the human body to ensure life needs.

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