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| Physicists led by Andrey Zubarev have calculated how to increase the speed of drug delivery. Photo Credit: Anna Marinovich |
Scientists from the Ural Federal University and the Côte d'Azur University (France) have developed a mathematical model to improve the delivery of drugs that restore blood flow in thrombosed blood vessels. The scientific paper was published in the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials.
Thrombosis of the blood vessels is a serious and difficult-to-treat condition that can often be fatal. The main method of treating thrombosis is the injection of thrombolytics - drugs that dissolve blood clots and restore blood flow. However, thrombolytics spread too slowly in a vessel with blocked blood flow, significantly reducing the effectiveness of the treatment.
"Attempts are being made to accelerate the distribution of thrombolytics through various physical effects. For example, researchers at the University of Texas have proposed introducing a drop of magnetic nanoparticles into a thrombosed vessel and then subjecting it to an alternating - oscillating or, for example, rotating - magnetic field. As a result, the nanoparticles should be set into rotational and translational motion, involving the surrounding fluid, i.e. the blood in the vessel, in this motion. This should lead to the intensification of the mixing of a drop of thrombolytic agent with blood and accelerate the "spreading" of the drop through the vessel. As a result, the drug reaches the thrombus more quickly," describes Andrey Zubarev, professor at the Department of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics at UFU, head of the development of the mathematical model and co-author of the article.
However, the practical realization of the idea of the Texas scientists requires preliminary study of many aspects: the size and shape of the drop, the location of the magnetic particles in it, the configuration, frequency, and field strength, and other factors can be the most favorable to achieve the optimal result.
In previous studies, the authors of the paper modeled cases in which a drop of magnetic fluid is injected into a blood vessel and affected by a magnetic field, creating a similar cloud of finite dimensions along and across the vessel. This time, the colleagues modeled the situation when the drop of magnetic fluid is "stretched" into a layer along the vessel with the help of a constant external field. The characteristics of the vessel in the mathematical model corresponded to the parameters of blood vessels, the thrombosis of which is dangerous for the patient's health and life.
"It is assumed that the thickness of the magnetic fluid layer is less than the thickness of the vessel and that there is a more or less pronounced boundary between it and a part of the blood that is relatively free of nanoparticles. Our work shows that in this case, it is possible to excite more intense flows with a rotating magnetic field than in the case of a "cloud". Increasing the frequency of the field leads to an increase in the rate of the generated currents by one or two orders of magnitude. Thus, the process of drug delivery to the thrombus can be much faster than without the magnetic field," says Andrey Zubarev.
According to him, the implemented developments can help to understand the physical nature of the generation of the described flows. Thus, they can be applied in other areas where it is necessary to mix impurities in thin vessels - for example, in some areas of chemical and biochemical technologies.
Funding: The development of the mathematical model was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 20-12-00031).
Published in journal: Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
Research Material:
Source/Credit: Ural Federal University | Alexander Zadorozhny
Reference Number: med102623_01
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