Caption: [A] Elastin stain (black) showing damaged elastic lamina in aorta. Inset (higher magnification) shows fluorescent nanoparticles attached to aorta where elastin is damaged. [B] Elastin stain showing aorta with undamaged elastic lamina. Inset shows no nanoparticle attachment. L stands for lumen, the open area inside the aorta. Credit: Naren Vyavahare, Clemson University
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of Americans. There are, in fact, many types of CVD—but common to most of them is damaged blood vessels. Stents can be inserted to prop open collapsed or narrowed arteries, and deliver drugs inside vessels. But, so far, we haven’t been able to repair the damaged vessels themselves. Researchers in an NIH-funded team of bioengineers at Clemson University, in South Carolina, are among those who believe that delivering drugs directly to the site of damage to mend the vessel might boost our ability to treat CVDs. And they’ve devised a way to deliver such drugs right where they want them: using specially-crafted nanoparticles.
