Aug 3, 2011 10:01 GMT  ·  By
Experts at the Northwestern University create nanomaterial that can promote blood vessel growth
   Experts at the Northwestern University create nanomaterial that can promote blood vessel growth

Tissue engineers at the Northwestern University announce the development of a new type of nanofibers, that can be used to boost the regenerative abilities of blood vessels. This could aid people who've just suffered a stroke or heart attack, the team says.

Patients diagnosed with peripheral arterial diseases, or those who've just received a transplant can also benefit from the new capability. New blood vessels can be grown only thanks to a new nanomaterial that was developed at the university.

What it does is it ensures that a designated organ or tissue receives sufficiently-high amounts of blood so as to prevent necrosis, or tissue death. This oftentimes happens after heart attacks, when muscle tissue dies because blood flow is interrupted.

By administering this nanomaterial, the Northwestern team can literally help the body grow replacement blood vessels. This investigation was led by expert Samuel Stupp, who was also the researcher that developed the nanofibers.

At first, he says, the team created a special liquid that can be injected into patients. Once inside the body, the mixture triggers the development of a matrix made up of loosely-tangled nanofibers.

Each of these tiny fibers contains minute protuberances that resemble the structure of a special protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). What this molecule does naturally is tell the body that new blood vessels are needed, so that construction can begin.

Stupp says that the nanofiber tangles cause the exact same effect, thus promoting the growth of new blood vessels. “This is an elegant approach to rationally design engineered materials to stimulate specific biological pathways,” says Jeff Karp.

The expert – who is the director of the Brigham & Women's Hospital (BWH) Laboratory for Advanced Biomaterials and Stem-Cell-Based Therapeutics – was not a part of the new investigation, Technology Review reports.

Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology associate professor Ali Khademhosseini explains that the work takes care of one of the biggest problems in tissue engineering, which is the inability to induce natural blood vessel growth.

“The next step is to proceed with extensive toxicological testing. The long view would be to produce a cell-free, growth-factor-free therapy for the treatment of ischemic disease and heart attacks,” Stupp says.

He holds an appointment as the director of the Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine at the Northwestern University.