Biodegradable gelatin particles show promise for delivering therape...( COLUMBUS Ohio Researchers at Ohio Sta...)

The biodegradable gelatin particles are so small that at least 10 would fit on the period at the end of this sentence. Researchers believe such particles could carry therapeutic genes to the glomerulus, a tiny cluster of capillaries within the kidney that filters toxins from the blood. This filtration system becomes blocked when patients develop glomerular disease.

The researchers injected these extremely small, biodegradable particles into arteries that led to an animal subject's kidneys. This study was designed to only test the gelatin delivery system, so the particles didn't carry any genetic material.

"Gene therapy is a new approach to treating kidney disease," said N. Stanley Nahman Jr., the study's senior author and a professor of nephrology at Ohio State. "Ours is a preliminary study we have at least five to 10 years to go before this kind of treatment might become a reality for patients.

"But gelatin appears to be a good choice for delivering potentially therapeutic genetic material to the glomerulus."

Glomerular disease is the most common cause of kidney failure in the United States. In 1997, more than half o
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Contact: N. Stanley Nahman
Nahman.1@osu.edu
614-293 4997
Ohio State University
16-Dec-2002