Deformable microparticles for shuttling nanoparticles to the vascular wall.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33883129.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abe0143 and PMC identifier 8059934.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Vascular-targeted drug carriers must localize to the wall (i.e., marginate) and adhere to a diseased endothelium to achieve clinical utility. The particle size has been reported as a critical physical property prescribing particle margination in vitro and in vivo blood flows. Different transport process steps yield conflicting requirements-microparticles are optimal for margination, but nanoparticles are better for intracellular or tissue delivery. Here, we evaluate deformable hydrogel microparticles as carriers for transporting nanoparticles to a diseased vascular wall. Depending on microparticle modulus, nanoparticle-loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogel microparticles delivered significantly more 50-nm nanoparticles to the vessel wall than freely injected nanoparticles alone, resulting in >3000% delivery increase. This work demonstrates the benefit of optimizing microparticles' efficient margination to enhance nanocarriers' transport to the vascular wall.