Travel to Health

  Nanoparticles  (NPs) are thought to have potential as novel intravascular probes for  both diagnostic (e.g., imaging) and therapeutic purposes (e.g., drug delivery) .  Critical issues for successful nanoparticle delivery include the ability: To target specific tissues and cell types   Endocytosis  (uptake into the cells) Targeting agent  (address tags) To escape from the biological particulate filter   Mononuclear Phagocyte System  (MPS; clearance of unwanted particulate material) Phagocytes and Nanoparticles Protection from Clearance by MPS  Main NP research question—how is particulate material recognized and cleared? In this article, we will cover the above five highlighted areas.  Note that the below topics are parts of the design considerations, but will not discussed here. Reduction in toxicity while maintaining therapeutic effects Greater safety and biocompatibility Figure 1.   Endocytosis (Created by Mariana Ruiz...

Video 1.   Sodium and Arterial Function: A-salting our Endothelium (YouTube link ) The Western diet is rich in salt, which poses various health risks.  For example,  too much sodium in the diet can lead to high blood pressure, stomach cancer, kidney stones, bone loss, obesity and even cause direct damage to our kidneys, arteries, and heart. According to the WHO’s recommendations, the maximum amount of salt individuals should consume every day is 5 grams , which is about 1 level teaspoon. In reality most of us are exceeding this amount considerably. Long-Term Effects of Too Much Salt Bad for cardiovascular systems [5] Consume one salty meal, and not only does our blood pressure go up, but our arteries literally stiffen Sodium in our blood stiffens the artery lining within minutes and reduces nitric oxide release Whereas potassium , concentrated in fruits and vegetables, softens the cells that line our arteries and increases the release of...

The number of innovative nanoparticles enabled medicinal products ( NEMPs ) being developed has been continually increasing. [66] Multiple regulatory bodies [67-71] implicitly demand product assessment in their quality, safety and efficacy in order to support their decision-making process, allowing effective translation toward a clinical application and subsequent commercialization. [67-71] With their small sizes, nanoparticles ( NPs ) present unique opportunities and challenges in both manufacturing and analysis: [72] If compared with ‘classical’ small molecule drugs, the assessment for NEMPs demands the investigation of many additional physico-chemical (PC) properties , including particle size distribution and polydispersity , dispersion stability , drug loading and drug release, particle shape, surface charge, surface coating , among many others. To complicate matters, each NEMP is unique , imposing different methodological approaches to characterize its PC properties and to d...