Nanoparticles increase survival after blood loss

“The new nanomedicine was developed to address the need for better field treatments for massive human blood loss, which can cause cardiovascular collapse, also known as hemorrhagic shock. This potentially fatal condition is best treated with infusions of refrigerated blood and other fluids. But such treatments are limited to emergency rooms or trauma centers.

“It is highly impractical to pack these supplies for use in rural emergencies, mass-casualty disasters or on the battlefield,” said coauthor Joel Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of physiology & medicine and of medicine and the Young Men's Division Chair in Physiology at Einstein. “Our nanoparticle therapy may offer the potential for saving lives in those situations. It's lightweight and compact and doesn't require refrigeration.”

The new therapy counters hemorrhagic shock by increasing the body's levels of NO gas, which, among other physiological functions, relaxes blood vessels and regulates blood pressure. The gas was encased in microscopic-sized particles that were specially designed by the Einstein team. (NO is so short-lived that delivering it in therapeutic amounts requires a method of sustained release.) The therapy is created by adding the NO-containing nanoparticles to saline solution, which was then infused into the animals. Once in the body, the nanoparticles gradually release a sustained dose of NO to tissues.

The nanomedicine was successfully tested in hamsters that had lost half their blood volume. “Animals given the nanoparticles exhibited better cardiac stability, stronger blood flow to tissues and other measures of hemorrhagic shock recovery compared to controls receiving saline solution minus the nanoparticles,” reported Dr. Friedman.

Previously published studies by Dr. Friedman and colleagues have demonstrated the beneficial effects of NO-containing nanoparticles for healing antibiotic-resistant staph infections and abscess caused by those bacteria and for treating erectile dysfunction.

The paper, “Exogenous Nitric Oxide Prevents Cardiovascular Collapse During Hemorrhagic Shock,” appears in the Februrary 21, 2011 online edition of Resuscitation. Other Einstein authors of the study were Adam Friedman, M.D. and Parimala Nachuraju, Ph.D. Coauthor Pedro Cabrales, Ph.D., of the department of bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego, California, carried out the animal studies.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2009-2010 academic year, Einstein is home to 722 M.D. students, 243 Ph.D.students, 128 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and approximately 350 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has 2,775 fulltime faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2009, Einstein received more than $155 million in support from the NIH. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Through its extensive affiliation network involving five medical centers in the Bronx, Manhattan and Long Island – which includes Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Einstein – the College of Medicine runs one of the largest post-graduate medical training programs in the United States, offering approximately 150 residency programs to more than 2,500 physicians in training.