(Source: Sciencedaily.com) -- U.S. scientists said attaching polymeric nanoparticles to red blood cells might become a new way to deliver drugs.
University of California-Santa Barbara researchers determined the procedure dramatically increases the in vivo lifetime of the nanoparticles, suggesting new applications for the delivery of drugs and circulating bioreactors.
One drawback to using polymeric nanoparticles has been their short duration -- they are quickly removed from the blood, sometimes in minutes, rendering them ineffective in delivering drugs.
The University of California-Santa Barbara scientists, led by Professor Samir Mitragotri and researcher Elizabeth Chambers, found nanoparticles can be forced to remain in the circulation when attached to red blood cells.
"Attachment of polymeric nanoparticles to red blood cells combines the advantages of the long circulating lifetime of the red blood cell, and their abundance, with the robustness of polymeric nanoparticles," said Mitragotri. "Using red blood cells to extend the circulation time of the particles avoids the need to modify the surface chemistry of the entire particle, which offers the potential to attach chemicals to the exposed surface for targeting applications."
The research appears in the July issue of the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine.
(Copyright 2007 by United Press International).
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