By combining the use of drug-carrying nanoparticles with an organ-preserving machine, researchers have developed a procedure that could help improve long-term outcomes for transplant recipients.

An example of nanoparticle accumulations in a biopsy taken from a human kidney stained with vasculature.
(Credit: Jenna DiRito/ Gregory T. Tietjen)

A technology known as ex vivo normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) has emerged in recent years as a means of keeping a donor organ “alive” outside the body before implantation. It has also helped increase the number of organs suitable for transplant. Researchers are working to expand the technology’s rehabilitation abilities with a nanoparticle-based drug-delivery system that can deliver a variety of treatments directly to critical targets in a human kidney while it is still in the device.

To target the cells, researchers coated nanoparticles with an antibody that targets CD31, a protein abundant in the endothelium. These particles were injected into the perfusion device while its fluid was passing through a donor kidney for periods of four to six hours.

Source 

Topics:
Drug Delivery Medical Medical, health and wellness Medical, health, and wellness Nanomaterials Nanotechnology Pharmaceuticals Surgical procedures

More From SAE Media Group

Medical Design Briefs
Tendon Healing: Nanoparticles for Precision Drug Delivery
Related Article Image
Medical Design Briefs
Device Delivers Gene Therapy for Lung Disease
Related Article Image
Medical Design Briefs
Targeted Drug Delivery: Nanomedicine Paves the Way for Treatments
Related Article Image
Medical Design Briefs
Bioinspired Drug Delivery
Related Article Image
    Magazine cover
    Medical Design Briefs Magazine

    This article first appeared in the January, 2018 issue of Medical Design Briefs Magazine (Vol. 8 No. 1).

    Read more articles from this issue here.

    Read more articles from the archives here.