Credit: Aaron Logan
New research suggests artificial platelets can aid natural platelets in the clotting process, thereby halting internal bleeding faster.
The artificial platelets, called hemostatic nanoparticles, dramatically increased survival rates in mouse models of blast trauma (hemorrhaging resulting from exposure to an explosion).
And the hemostatic nanoparticles did not appear to interfere with healing or cause any other complications for up to 3 weeks after injection.
Erin Lavik, ScD, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and her colleagues recounted these results in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Side effects and survival
The researchers developed a full-body-blast mouse model that replicates the injuries seen in people exposed to explosions. And they used these mice to compare the safety and efficacy of the hemostatic nanoparticles to no treatment, control nanoparticles, lactated Ringer’s solution, and rFVIIa.
The survival rate in mice treated with hemostatic nanoparticles increased to 95% at 1 hour post-trauma, compared to 60% for untreated mice. The odds ratio (OR) was 13.
When the researchers compared the hemostatic nanoparticles and lactated Ringer’s solution, the OR was 8.5. For hemostatic nanoparticles vs control nanoparticles, the OR was 7.1. And for hemostatic nanoparticles vs rFVIIa, the OR was 5.5.
Most mice were killed at the 1-hour time point, but the researchers maintained some mice in the nanoparticle groups so they could assess survival at 1 week and 3 weeks after the blast injury and examine the long-term effects of the nanoparticles.
The team said the vast majority of animals that survived at 1 hour lived to the end of the 3-week study. Differences in lethality at 1 week and 3 weeks were not statistically significant.
Furthermore, there were no unwanted side effects, such as accumulation of the nanoparticles, clot formation, or aberrant healing, during examinations at the 1-week and 3-week time points.
About the nanoparticles
The nanoparticles are made from short polymer chains already approved for other uses by the US Food and Drug Administration.
“They are incredibly simple . . . spheres with arms of peptides that react with activated blood platelets in damaged tissues to help clots form more quickly,” Dr Lavik said.
The dry particles remained viable after 2 weeks on a shelf. A medic in the field or an ambulance crew would add saline, shake and inject them, according to the researchers.
In earlier testing, rat models injected with the nanoparticles stopped bleeding faster than untreated models. Further research and testing are underway, and clinical trials are likely at least 5 years out, Dr Lavik said.
