Into a blood clot with nanometer accuracy
Nanotechnology will help to fight blood clots more effectively
Roman Ivanov, Computer
Specialists from Harvard University (USA) have created a new biomimetic strategy for delivering vital nanotherapeutic agents directly into partially clogged blood vessels to dissolve the resulting blood clots before they cause serious disorders or even death.
The technique allows you to dissolve blood clots using only a small part of the dosage that is usually required for this purpose, which guarantees the minimization of side effects (bleeding).
The results of the work published in the journal Science (Korin et al., Shear-Activated Nanotherapeutics for Drug Targeting to Obstructed Blood Vessels) will have a significant impact on the therapy of heart attacks, strokes and pulmonary embolism, that is, everything that can cause sudden death.
The authors "peeped" their approach in blood platelets, which quickly adhere to the walls of narrow vessels, contributing to the development of atherosclerotic plaques. In narrow vessels, high voltage during the movement of blood is considered to be the physical factor for circulating platelets, which causes them to stick to the walls in such places.
In the high shear stress zone, nanoparticle aggregates disintegrate,
releasing a large number of individual particles coated with the active substance
(illustration by Wyss Institute at Harvard University)
The vascular nanoscale therapeutic agent proposed by scientists is close in size to platelets, but at the same time it is an aggregate of biodegradable nanoparticles coated with a drug that dissolves blood clots – a tissue activator of profibrinolysin (plasminogen), or tPA. Like a lump of raw sand that breaks up into individual grains of sand when you roll it in your hands, the aggregates dissociate in vessels with high shear stress caused by their partial blockage, releasing individual nanoparticles with tPA. And they bind to the forming blood clots and dissolve them.
On the video (in short breaks between American-speaking heads – VM :) it can be observed how a blood clot in the mouse artery begins to dissolve immediately after the introduction of a nanotherapeutic agent:
Disruption of normal blood circulation towards the heart, lungs and brain caused by vascular thrombosis is one of the main causes of death or disability in developing countries. Currently, patients with pulmonary thromboembolism, heart attack, stroke and other types of acute thrombosis are most often treated with potent thromborosolving drugs. But since these substances freely circulate throughout the body, being in high concentrations, they can cause very dangerous and often even fatal bleeding.
The new nanotherapeutic agent, activated by high shear stress inside blood vessels, is able to overcome the problem of dangerous side effects of such drugs. So, in experiments on mice, scientists have shown that one fiftieth of the usual therapeutic dose is sufficient for the new technique, which guarantees significantly higher safety. This gives hope that the new drug can be used even by ambulance workers, without waiting for the arrival of a doctor.
Prepared based on materials from Harvard University: Clot-busting technology goes straight to work.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru09.07.2012