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American scientists have made a breakthrough in nanomedicine
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specialists are actively developing new-generation drugs that will contain a tiny capsule with the active substance. Such drugs have the ability to pass through the body's internal barriers, such as the intestinal mucosa.
Studies conducted on laboratory mice have shown that a nanoparticle with insulin can effectively reduce blood sugar. Unfortunately, insulin in nanoform is currently not available to humans and patients suffering from diabetes must inject insulin themselves, in some cases several times a day.
Scientists expect that future generation nanomedicines will be able to easily penetrate the barriers that surround human internal organs. At the same time, nanoparticles can be used to transport the drug through other cellular barriers surrounding human organs, such as the brain, lungs, etc. Nanomedicines have the structure of a hollow synthetic sphere, where the active substance is placed inside, sprayed or attached to the surface. Nanomedicine opens up new ways for doctors to treat many chronic diseases that require daily therapeutic procedures.
Until recently, scientists had been unable to get nanoparticles to penetrate the intestinal cellular barriers. Existing nanopreparations were primarily used in the form of injections. But by paying attention to how small children receive their mother's antibodies from breast milk to form and develop their own immunity, they were able to solve this problem. Antibodies from mother's milk bind to "receptor" molecules in the intestine, and this is the very path that allows them to penetrate directly into the blood vessels.
Experts suggest that in the future, nanomedicines will help effectively combat such serious diseases as diabetes or cancer. Such drugs will become a worthy replacement for currently existing drugs. As the head of the research group Omid Farokhzad noted, a discovery of this kind gives great prospects for the possibilities of nanomedicine.
Traditional medicines that humanity has been using for several decades, with the bloodstream get not only to the lesion, but also to all organs and cells of the body. As a result, side effects may develop from excessive exposure. The effect of nanopreparations is the exact opposite of traditional medicines: they work at the level of certain cells, they can be specifically directed to the necessary organ, tissue or group of cells. Due to this, the dose of the drug is significantly reduced and side effects are practically eliminated. Nanomedicines have low toxicity and at the same time high treatment efficiency. Such drugs consist of two components: the active substance and a special capsule in which the drug is delivered to the intended destination.
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