Nanomaterial for Treating Stroke

"Stroke is one of the most lethal diseases worldwide where it is expected that among 23 million cases, 7.8 million patients will die in the coming eight years. Several factors might cause strokes including genetics and lifestyles. Due to the increased risks of mortality, and the drawbacks of current conventional therapies, finding new therapeutical methods for treating strokes is crucial. One approach is nanotechnology that has been proven to be promising in the field of medical research including stroke treatments. Many types of nanomaterials have been involved in drug delivery including gold nanoparticles and polymeric nanoparticles aiming for an early diagnosis of stroke and treating it with minimal side effects and maximal success. In this study, we investigated the effect of using cell membrane and exosomes derived from human brain microvascular endothelial cells to enhance the activity of some drugs that are used in treating stroke and tested the ability of using such biocompatible particles in dissolving a fibrin clot without causing cytotoxicity and ROS. The objective of this study was accomplished by performing corresponding experiments that studied the activity of the prepared particles and proved their effectiveness. In addition, characterization tools such as flow cytometry, biochemical assays, and dynamic light scattering. This study reveals that the effectiveness of using cell membranes and exosomes to coat tPA and plasminogen in order to enhance their ability in dissolving a fibrin clot, thus further increase their effectiveness in stroke treatments while reducing their side effects when administered freely. Furthermore, this study proves the effectiveness of catalase against the toxicity and ROS caused by H2O2 in addition to showing the efficiency of encapsulating catalase within exosomes, alone and with tPA, to enhance the particles efficacy, first treating a stroke, and second by preventing cytotoxicity and ROS."Master of Science in Engineering (MSE)Bioengineering, College of Engineering & Computer ScienceUniversity of Michigan-Dearbornhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/174141/1/Sara Khalil final thesis.pd