A novel method for finding and delivering healing drugs to newly formed microcracks in bones has been invented by a team of chemists and bioengineers at Penn State University and Boston University. The method involves the targeted delivery of the drugs, directly to the cracks, on the backs of tiny self-powered nanoparticles. The energy that revs the motors of the nanoparticles and sends them rushing toward the crack comes from a surprising source — the crack itself. This research-microscope image shows the increasing density at the bone-crack site during a 40-minute test of particles carrying the bone-healing medication. The particles were treated with a red-glowing fluorescent dye. Credit: Sen laboratory, Penn State University “When a crack occurs in a bone, it disrupts the minerals in the bone, which leach out as charged particles — as ions — that create an electric field, which pulls the negatively charged nanoparticles toward the crack,” said Penn State Professor of Chemistry Ayusman Sen, a co-leader of the research team. “Our experiments have shown that a biocompatible particle can quickly and naturally deliver an osteoporosis drug directly to a newly cracked bone.” Sen said that the formation of this kind of an electric field is
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