Particles of micro injections into the blood help minimize damage after a heart attack

After a heart attack occurs, inflammatory cells known as monocytes will invade damaged tissue. This causes cardiac edema, reduces the ability to pump blood and continues to damage tissues - potentially life-threatening. Now scientists have discovered an injectable micro-molecule that blocks this risk.

Developed under a partnership program between Northwestern Illinois University and Sydney University of Australia, 500nm-sized particles have the main component of a bio-biodegradable and biodegradable polymer called poly (lactic -co-glycolic) acid . This biological material has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used as a suture for self-drainage. In addition, materials are also being studied for use in treating diabetes and breast cancer.

When injected into the blood stream within 24 hours of a heart attack, negatively charged microscopic particles begin to absorb positively charged mononuclear leukocytes when they are on their way to the heart. When a monocyte binds to a micro particle, a signal inside the cell is activated, indicating that it is dying. This changes the pathway of the white blood cells, instead of reaching the heart, they go straight to the leaf creek - the first organ to discharge dead cells.

As a result, the inflammation of the heart is reduced to a minimum. In animal tests, the lesion size of the heart has been reduced by up to 50%. Also in the lab, micro particles have shown potential to be used to treat various types of infections such as West Nile virus - a deadly virus discovered for the first time in Uganda in 1937. dengue fever, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis; colitis, intestinal inflammation, multiple sclerosis and peritonitis.

Currently, microphones are being commercialized with the help of startup company Biotechnology Development Company. Forest testing activities are expected to take place within 2 years. Details of the study have also been published last week in the Science Translational Medicine magazine .