A new Tel Aviv University study shows how the complex process of crystallization through supercooling could revolutionize the delivery of drugs in the human body, providing a way to “freeze” the drugs at an optimal time and location in the body.
The new study, published in Scientific Reports, is the first to break down the rules governing the complex process of crystallization through rapid-cooling. According to the research, membranes can be engineered to crystallize at a specific time.
“We describe a supercooled material as ‘metastable,’ meaning it is very sensitive to any external perturbation that may transform it back to its stable low-temperature state,” said Dr. Roy Beck of the Department of Physics at TAU’s School of Physics and Astronomy, who co-lead the study. “We discovered in our study that it is possible to control the process and harness the advantages of the fluid/not-fluid transition to design a precise and effective nanoscale drug encapsulating system.”
The research was led jointly by Beck and Prof. Dan Peer of the Department of Cell Research and Immunology at TAU’s Faculty of Life Sciences, and conducted by TAU graduate students Guy Jacoby, Keren Cohen, and Kobi Barkai.
For the purpose of the study, the researchers conducted experiments on nanoscale drug vesicles (fluid-filled sacs that deliver drugs to their targets) to determine the precise dynamics of crystallization. The researchers used a state-of-the-art X-ray scattering system sensitive to nanoscale structures.
“One key challenge in designing new nano-vesicles for drug delivery is their stability,” said Beck. “On the one hand, you need a stable vesicle that will entrap your drug until it reaches the specific diseased cell. But on the other, if the vesicle is too stable, the payload may not be released upon arrival at its target.
“Supercooled material is a suitable candidate since the transition between liquid and crystal states is very drastic and the liquid membrane explodes to rearrange as crystals. Therefore this new physical insight can be used to release entrapped drugs at the target and not elsewhere in the body’s microenvironment. This is a novel mechanism for timely drug release.”
The researchers found that the membranes were able to remain stable for tens of hours before collectively crystallizing at a predetermined time.
Peer has been a leader in using nano-technology to treat different forms of cancer and has won an award for his work in this field.
(via Israel21c)