Clot-busting nanogel spheres allow rapid response to heart attacks

Researchers are reporting development and testing of a new drug-delivery system that allows rapid response to heart attacks without surgical intervention. In laboratory and animal testing, the system proved effective at dissolving clots, limiting long-term scarring to heart tissue, and preserving more of the heart’s normal function, they say.

The clot-busting drug-delivery system consists of porous nanogel spheres, about 250 nanometers in diameter, that target a blood clot and deliver a cocktail of two drugs:  tPA and Y-27632. The two drugs deliver a dual punch: One drug dissolves the clot while the other drug limits scarring of the tissue. In tests using laboratory rats, the researchers found that the technique limited scarring and preserved heart function after heart attack better than the tPA or Y-27632 drugs by themselves and much better than a control group in which the animals received neither drug.

The study, which was partly funded by NHLBI, appeared in ACS Nano, a publication of American Chemical Society.