Melbourne scientists use intelligent microbubbles to bust blood clots

SCIENTISTS are developing ‘intelligent microbubbles’ designed to quickly detect and dissolve blood clots that cause heart attacks, strokes and deep vein thrombosis.

Melbourne scientists are developing “intelligent microbubbles” designed to quickly detect and dissolve blood clots that cause heart attacks, strokes, and deep vein thrombosis.

The tiny bubbles, injected in veins, track and attach to blood clots before releasing drugs to break them down. In tests on rodents, they destroyed clots within minutes.

Clot-busting drug to treat stroke destroys fatal blockages

Blood clot catcher saving lives at Melbourne Hospital

Study finds drug TXA cuts blood loss after surgery

Micro treatment for blood clots.

Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute lead researcher Dr Xiaowei Wang said the particles also made the clots easily visible using ultrasound imaging.

She said current drugs for stroke and heart attack carried substantial risk of bleeding complications.

Dr Wang and her mentor, Professor Karlheinz Peter, believe the intelligent microbubble, a simultaneous diagnostic and treatment tool, could overcome haemorrhaging.

“Currently clots can only be visualised or diagnosed by putting catheters into the arteries and this procedure is only available in large hospitals.

“If you are from a small country town or regional area, there may be a big delay before you get sent to the larger hospitals for diagnosis. This wait could cause irreversible damage to the brain or the heart.”

Generic medical research. Picture: iStock

Dr Wang said: “We call the microbubbles intelligent because they can go to the blood clot and deliver the drug directly to it, which should mean we can give less medication and make it more targeted to reduce the bleeding risk.”

Dr Wang received the National Heart Foundation’s Future Leader Fellowship. Its national chief medical adviser Professor Garry Jennings said the brilliant concept might provide two solutions in one.

“Identifying clots that block arteries and cause heart attack or stroke with readily available equipment, and without the need for an angiogram, has been a holy grail,” he said.

“Another has been to find a way to dissolve clots without thinning the blood and increasing the risk of bleeding elsewhere in the body.”

In a proof-of-concept study published in the journal Theranostics, the team showed the microbubbles were effective clot-busters that did not cause bleeding problems.

The preclinical studies also showed the clots and the effect of the drug on them could be monitored using ultrasound.

Dr Wang said the research was in its infancy and it was difficult to predict when it would advance to human trials, but she hoped the approach would improve treatment, reduce excessive bleeding, and ultimately save lives.

[e-mail]

Lucie_VDB