Nanoparticles that act as mini drones – self-guided devices – will circulate within the arteries and protect them from the formation of atherosclerotic plaque due to high cholesterol.
For American scientists, this is the new experimental solution that may constitute an alternative treatment for atherosclerosis in the future by preventing thrombosis that can lead to heart attack or stroke.
The pharmaceutical nanoparticles are a thousand times smaller than the tip of a human hair, the scientists comment, adding that, so far, the promising treatment has been successfully tested on mice in the laboratory, while similar nanoparticles are already being tested on people with terminal cancer .
As the British newspaper "Telegraph" claims, researchers from Columbia and Harvard universities, led by associate professor of biotechnology Omid Farrokhzad, appeared optimistic that the new method could help combat chronic inflammation of the arteries and stabilize -potentially dangerous- atherosclerotic plaques.
Plaques are formed by the storage of fat - mainly "bad" cholesterol - and other substances that cause chronic inflammation. These areas of the arteries where inflammation develops are the most dangerous for a sudden detachment of part of the clot and thus causing a heart attack.
Scientists have deployed nanotechnology for the following reasons: Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease and the patient must take medication for many years. However, current anti-inflammatory drugs do not target the plaque that is formed but spread throughout the body, consequently preventing the immune system from properly fighting other infections.
In contrast, nanoparticles, made from biodegradable polymers, carry anti-inflammatory drugs and release them in a targeted manner to the exact points in the arteries where plaque has formed inside them. About 70% of the nanoparticles end up where they should be, that is, inside the artery plaques, where they slowly release their therapeutic molecule.
Source: protothema.gr
