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Updated: Oct 28, 2025
Manufacture and Drug Delivery Applications of Silk Nanoparticles
Published on: October 8, 2016
Nanoparticle delivery of cardioprotective therapies
Abraham Mendez-Fernandez1,2, Hector A Cabrera-Fuentes1,2,3,4,5,6, Bhaarathy Velmurugan2,4
1Tecnologico de Monterrey, Centro de Biotecnologia-FEMSA, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Insights
Novel nanoparticle drug delivery systems show promise for reducing heart damage after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and preventing heart failure (HF). These advanced systems improve therapy delivery to the ischemic heart, addressing a key challenge in cardioprotection.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Biomedical Engineering
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and subsequent heart failure (HF) are major global health issues with limited treatment options beyond reperfusion.
- Current therapies often fail to reduce myocardial infarct (MI) size or prevent HF due to inadequate delivery to the ischemic heart.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems for improving cardioprotection following AMI.
- To highlight the potential of nanoparticles in enhancing the efficacy of therapies aimed at reducing MI size and preventing HF.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on nanoparticle applications in cardiovascular disease and cardioprotection.
- Analysis of nanoparticle characteristics, including bioavailability, targeted delivery, and controlled release.
- Examination of FDA-approved nanoparticles for potential use in AMI treatment.
Main Results:
- Nanoparticles offer a promising strategy to overcome the challenge of insufficient drug concentration at the site of injury.
- These systems can improve the bioavailability, targeted delivery, and controlled release of cardioprotective agents.
- Several nanoparticles, some FDA-approved, are being explored for their therapeutic potential in cardiovascular conditions.
Conclusions:
- Nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery represents a significant advancement in the development of effective cardioprotective therapies for AMI.
- Improved delivery strategies are crucial for translating experimental cardioprotective successes into clinical benefits.
- Further research and clinical application of nanoparticles could lead to reduced MI size and better prevention of HF post-AMI.
Abstract:
Acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and the heart failure (HF) that often follows, are leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Crucially, there are currently no effective treatments, other than myocardial reperfusion, for reducing myocardial infarct (MI) size and preventing HF following AMI. Thus, there is an unmet need to discover novel cardioprotective therapies to reduce MI size, and prevent HF in AMI patients. Although a large number of therapies have been shown to reduce MI size in experimental studies, the majority have failed to benefit AMI patients. Failure to deliver cardioprotective therapy to the ischemic heart in sufficient concentrations following AMI is a major factor for the lack of success observed in previous clinical cardioprotection studies. Therefore, new strategies are needed to improve the delivery of cardioprotective therapies to the ischemic heart following AMI. In this regard, nanoparticles have emerged as drug delivery systems for improving the bioavailability, delivery, and release of cardioprotective therapies, and should result in improved efficacy in terms of reducing MI size and preventing HF. In this article, we provide a review of currently available nanoparticles, some of which have been FDA-approved, in terms of their use as drug delivery systems in cardiovascular disease and cardioprotection.
