Biodegradable gelatin particles show promise for delivering therape...( f the 304000 people ...)

The study appears in a recent issue of the journal Biomedical Microdevices.

The researchers found that it took about 10 hours for the gelatin particles, or particles, to dissolve enough to pass through the glomerulus of a piglet. Ten hours is a short enough period for a gene to be released and to begin replicating in the tissue, Nahman said.

The scientists injected perhaps a million biodegradable gelatin particles into the renal artery of a piglet. (Each kidney has about a million glomeruli.)

The particles were tagged with radioactive material prior to being injected into the animals. After injection, the researchers used a gamma camera to take pictures of the particles while they were inside the piglet's body. This camera, which detects radioactivity inside the body, was placed over the kidneys.

The researchers measured the distribution of particles based on the level of radioactivity observed in the piglet's kidney at various points in time.

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Contact: N. Stanley Nahman
Nahman.1@osu.edu
614-293 4997
Ohio State University
16-Dec-2002