Flexible nanovectors

In this paper we show that the control of adhesion in highly flexible (a property that could be crucial for smart drug delivery but which is still ignored in the literature) nanovectors can help in smartly targeting and delivering the drug. The existence of and the conditions for activating and controlling a super-adhesive state are addressed. Even if such a state has never been observed in nanovectors, our calculations, as well as observations in spiders and geckos, suggest its existence and feasible control. Control of the competition between the drag and the adhesive force is exploited to improve the targeting ability and a hierarchical model is applied to describe a real vasculature. The high flexibility of the nanovector is used to smartly deliver the drug only during adhesion by nanopumping or, as a limiting case, by the new concept of 'adhesion induced nanovector implosion'; a liquid drop analogy is utilized for the calculations. Fast (pumping) and slow (diffusion) drug deliveries can thus be separately controlled by controlling the size and shape of the nanovector. Multiple stage nanovectors are also briefly discussed, mimicking aerospace vector strategies.