Provide safe way to powerful drugs with new device

A new drug delivery device designed and constructed by Jie Chen, promises Thomas Cesario and Peter Rentzepis, the potential of light-sensitive chemicals, drug resistant infections, and perhaps cancer tumors and kill.

Light-sensitive chemicals are molecules to release the single oxygen atoms and chemical radical when illuminated. This radical are chemically very active and can tear apart and destroy bacteria, said Peter Rentzepis, Professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine.

Light-sensitive chemicals for use in the United States are still allowed and used relatively rarely in Europe. This is because they are highly toxic and difficult to enable under the skin, since light penetrates only a few millimeters in the body.

Light-sensitive chemicals cause severe reactions including headache, nausea and light sensitivity for 30 days. You kill healthy cells and bacteria. Although several therapeutic potential, they are also toxic for human use by injection.

The researchers solved this problem with a fiber-based device can achieve highly accurate very small amounts of light-sensitive chemicals for the internal organs.

The device consists of three components. The first is an imaging component much like the charge coupled devices (CCDs) in digital cameras. It allows a doctor leading the device to the infection.

A 1-mm diameter flexible fiber optic connected micro light provides the CCD sizes high power LED or laser diode. As soon as the doctor positioned the device more easily that same source shines with greater intensity, to activate the medicine.

The third component is connected a hollow tube with a syringe of medicine providing medicine for the infection. Rentzepis glycol, a thickening agent in surgical SOAP adds, used to keep the medicine spread healthy cells.

The syringe back pull, created a vacuum that sucks up all remaining chemicals after the procedure.

"We can put the instrument by the nose, intestines, mouth, or almost all openings and direct you where we want", Rentzepis said. "It can be to provide us with very small amounts of these chemicals directly to infection or tumor, then remove them before she healthy cells damage."

The researchers plan to test it on animals with infections and cancer.

Source:
Charles Blue
American Institute of physics