Following a research initiative, biomedical scientists at Case Western Reserve University report that a latest innovation of developing artificial platelets could help save lives by rapid regulation of clots to reduce loss of blood from serious injuries.
The focus of the new effort is on creation of next-gen nanoparticles that mimic platelets, and help form a protein mesh that works as a natural net to regulate blood clots and helps stop bleeding.
If the innovation is proven to be safe and efficient in clinical trials, this would strengthen the advances in decade-long effort of scientists to develop and optimize what is called synthetic platelet surrogates.
“The innovation is the next step in artificial platelet technology and it’s truly a critical progress,” stated the lead researcher behind the innovation.
The innovation serves to work in a few ways – to form a plug to reduce blood loss from a traumatic injury and to help format fibrin, which is a protein mesh that secures plug and stabilizes the clot further.
Meanwhile, for the last decade, the researchers at Case Western Reserve University initiated research in artificial platelet systems. The team has been engaged in working on therapeutic technologies with applications in hemostastis, thrombolysis, and inflammation.
The detailed findings of the research appears in a paper published in Science Translational Medicine.
The nanoparticles, which scientists name ‘platelet-mimicking procoagulant nanoparticles’ helped the clot to form faster and stop bleeding in animal studies, reported the researchers.
Physiologically, platelets component of blood helps blood-clotting process by quickly accumulating at the site of injury, attaching to the lining of the injured blood vessel, and forming clusters to form a plug and boosting the formation of fibrin.
