New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Cells Have An Appetite For Micro-doughnuts

Date:
June 24, 2008
Source:
Royal Society of Chemistry
Summary:
Just like humans, liver cells can't resist eating just one or two small doughnuts, say chemists in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Communications. Exploiting liver cells' appetite for polystyrene ring "doughnuts", just a few microns across, might give scientists a new way to deliver drugs selectively, potentially eliminating nasty side effects of life-saving treatments such as chemotherapy.
Share:
FULL STORY

Just like humans, liver cells can’t resist eating just one or two small doughnuts, say chemists from Scotland in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Communications.

Exploiting liver cells’ appetite for polystyrene ring “doughnuts”, just a few microns across, might give scientists a new way to deliver drugs selectively, potentially eliminating nasty side effects of life-saving treatments such as chemotherapy.

Mark Bradley and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, UK, serendipitously made the polymer doughnuts while studying potential drug-carrying microparticles.

While synthesising micro-spheres, the team added a small amount of dioxane to their usual ethanol solvent. To their surprise, the resulting microparticles were regular in size and shape, with a hole through the middle like a doughnut.

“Their unique and highly uniform structure was immediately interesting to us and we considered the possible applications they may have – one of which was as carrier particles for cellular delivery,” said Bradley.

When they tested the uptake of the doughnuts into different types of cells, the team found they had an overwhelming preference for liver cells.

The high cell specificity these doughnuts showed led the team to conduct extensive in vivo testing in rats. The doughnuts were injected into the tail and within four hours they were detected solely in the liver region (yellow in image), with no adverse effects observed in the animal after the experiment.

Bradley believes there are other uses for the micro-doughnuts besides drug delivery, such as filtration or purification devices, but the team will be keen to develop their ability to selectively deliver drugs into cells.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Royal Society of Chemistry. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Lois Alexander et al. Dunking doughnuts into cells—selective cellular translocation and in vivo analysis of polymeric micro-doughnuts. Chemical Communications, 2008; DOI: 10.1039/b805323e

Cite This Page:

Royal Society of Chemistry. "Cells Have An Appetite For Micro-doughnuts." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 June 2008. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080624120237.htm>.
Royal Society of Chemistry. (2008, June 24). Cells Have An Appetite For Micro-doughnuts. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080624120237.htm
Royal Society of Chemistry. "Cells Have An Appetite For Micro-doughnuts." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080624120237.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES