Nanotechnology as Lymphedema Treatment: New Approach Uses Nanoparticles to Repair Lymphatic Vessel Pumping

There is a new treatment for lymphedema using nanotechnology. A recent study shows nanoparticles can now repair lymphatic vessels' pumping actions.

Nanotechnology to Treat Lymphedema

A superhighway of the immune system, the human body comprises thousands of microscopic lymphatic capillaries that transport proteins and white blood cells. It is incredibly effective, but if it is harmed by an accident or cancer therapy, the entire system begins to collapse. Lymphedema is the resultant fluid retention and swelling, and it's not just uncomfortable; it is permanent, Science Daily reported.

Usually, lymphatic veins lose their ability to pump out the fluid when they fail. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a novel therapy that can restore the pumping of lymphatic vessels. In the past, experts in the field have attempted to generate new lymphatic capillaries, but restoring the pumping motion is a novel strategy.

According to Professor Brandon Dixon of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, the challenge with many patients is that the lymphatic vessels still in the patient aren't working. So it's not that you need to grow new vessels that you can think of as tubes. It would be best if you got the tubes to work, which for lymphatic vessels means to pump. They target the said issue, making their technique truly distinct. They use a nanoparticle that can drain into the diseased veins to give medication and help lymphatic vessels pump again.

The Dixon and Thomas lab teams tested the formulation using rodent models. They mapped the model's lymph node system by injecting a fluorescent substance to see how it travels.

They applied a pressure cuff to measure how the lymphatic system fails to function when compromised.

They then examined how the drug's outcomes were affected by incorporating BayK into a lymph-draining nanoparticle. As seen by enhanced vascular pumping and restored pumping pressure, the delivery system enabled the drug to work within the lymphatic vessel. It significantly decreased the concentration of BayK in the blood, which is normally linked to unfavorable side effects.

The researchers reported their findings in the Science Advances article "Lymphatic-Draining Nanoparticles Transport The K8644 Payload to Lymphatic Vessels and Enhance Their Pumping Function."

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How Nanotechnology Treatment Work for Lymphedema

The S-(-)-Bay K8644 or BayK medication the researchers employed typically targets L-type calcium channels that allow the skeletal, cardiac, and endocrine muscles to contract. In practice, convulsions and spasms would result from applying BayK throughout the body.

Utilizing drugs concentrated in the lymphatic vessels only allows the injection site to be drained by using nanoparticles to suck the liquid from the lymphatic vessels after injection. The medication is present in lymphatic channels at a locally high concentration.

The medicine for lymphedema applications is safe and targeted because when lymph eventually returns to circulation, it is diluted in the blood and doesn't harm other systems in the body.

Lymphatic tissues behave like river basins; they have arteries that drain the fluid out of your tissues, according to Susan Thomas, Woodruff Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Parker H. Petit Center for Bioengineering and Bioscience. She likened the approach of the new treatment to adding nanoparticles to a river to improve its flow.

The study represents the ideal synthesis of Dixon's and Thomas' individual specialties. For many years, Dixon's laboratory has investigated the operation of lymphatics in animal models. Thomas creates medicine delivery systems using nanoparticles that operate in the lymphatic system.

Thomas researched lymphatic-targeting drug delivery systems and developed analysis tools and illness models connected to the lymphatic system. It was the ideal opportunity to use our capabilities to perhaps make progress in creating new methods for treating this underserved patient population by tackling lymphedema, a common condition for which there are no effective treatments.