Red Blood Cells Offer Links to Develop Better Medicines
by Rudolph Yap in Health News on Jan 14, 2011
It is studied that one of the red blood cells’ significant characteristics is its flexibility, having the ability “to deform and squish their way through blood vessels” in order to deliver oxygen throughout the human’s body. According to scientists, this significant ability of the red blood cells contributes to the red blood cells’ ability to circulate inside the body for an estimated average of 120 days.
The researchers from the University of North Carolina have studied and synthesized red blood cell-sized and shaped nanoparticles that can mimic the flexibility and longevity of the real red blood cells. According to the researchers, this new discovery might lead to a new development in producing better methods for delivering drugs.
Joseph DiSimone, the study’s co-lead investigator said, “We believe this study represents a real game changer for the future of nanomedicine.” It has been a long time challenge for the scientists to get particles to continue the circulation in the body for extended periods. And this new discovery may be the way to further studies on this area.
In previous studies, researchers are more focused on “how size, shape and surface characteristics of particles affected their movement through the bloodstream,” but pointed out that the flexibility of the particles is not well understood. In order to test the flexibility, the researchers “built artificial cells” so that they could control how deformable the cells really were.
They tested this by injecting the artificial cells into the mice. The results show that the softest cells they tested remained in the bloodstream for 30 times longer compared to least flexible cells. However, they still do not know if the artificial cells can carry drugs inside the body, but they are hoping that this technology can help in the production of synthetic blood, for cancer treatments or in medical imaging.
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