PatIntNews

Dr. Issa A. Katime and postdoctoral associates at the University of the Basque(Spain), has created nano- hydrogels on the basis of New Materials and Supramolecular Spectroscopy research at department of Physical Chemistry in the Faculty of Sciences and Technology .

They have developed hydrogels to release pharmaceutical drugs in a controlled manner, for cancer patients. Their aim was to design a particle competent capable of detecting where the cancer is, and delivering appropriate drug at that point. Intelligent hydrogels as developed by them is capable of detecting changes in pH of blood (blood generally has a pH of 7.4, in a zone where cancer is present it drops to 4.7-5.2).

Hence hydrogels are used with folic acid, which has the capability to identify the cancer cells, by tricking them into penetration of hydrogel inside the membranes. Inside the cell membrane, the change in pH favors the swelling of the nano-hydrogel and, thus, results in release of the pharmaceutical drug.

The major problem in the use of existing hydrogel with patients is its molecular size. Large molecules are difficult to inject since they may cause obstruction etc such as angina pectoris and even heart attack .One essential condition for use in humans is that the particles have to be very small to be capable of not obstructing the veins and arteries and not being detected by the white corpuscles causing them to attack the former and cause them to enlarge, giving rise to the previously mentioned problem.

The development of nanoparticles holds a number of difficulties. The research team has perfected a technique of obtaining of nanoparticles of similar size.

The final design of the nanoparticles was a success. Currently these are undergoing "in vivo" trials with research teams led by Dr. José María Teijón, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the Complutense University in Madrid and Dr. Antonio Quintana, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the UPV/EHU.

But these intelligent nano-hydrogels also have other application such as using with anti-tubercular pharmaceutical drugs is currently being investigated.

Today, anti-tubercular drugs have to be injected several times a day. The research team is designing a nano-hydrogel mixture of anti-tubercular pharmaceutical drugs which releases the medication in a controlled manner.