Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute researchers have designed and developed a novel drug delivery method that can vastly improve the efficacy of a drug used to treat atherosclerosis and has the potential to identify and treat other diseases.
Theranostic nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized using n-butylcyanoacrylate (BCA). Air trapped NPs were synthesized using the sonication-based mini-emulsion method. The monomer BCA is emulsified in the aqueous phase and loaded with 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (CD) and indocyanine green (ICG)/IR780 dye. During the generation step, air is being trapped in the NPs. Intravenously injected CD-loaded NPs will accumulate at the atherosclerotic plaque and release CD, which reduces plaque size. The ICG/IR780-loaded and air-trapped NPs provided contrast enhancement via NIR fluorescence and ultrasound imaging. The generated theranostic NPs allow both the identification/diagnosis of atherosclerosis and effective anti-atherosclerotic therapy. Credit: Sourabh Mehta et al, Small (2022). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202200967 The technique, using drug-loaded nanoparticles, directly targets the site of atherosclerosis in animal models, enhancing the cells' uptake of the drug hydroxylpropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (CD) and significantly reducing cholesterol content more effectively than the drug alone. Currently, high…