Plugging the Leak

When you cut your finger, the alarming burst of blood typically stops fairly soon, as platelets in the blood rush to the point of injury, latch into a clump, and plug the hole. They also encourage the growth of a protective net of fibrin to keep everything in place. But the challenge is greater during surgery or large injuries, so improved ways to stop heavy bleeding are needed. Platelet transfusions can help, but are not always available, so researchers are investigating artificial platelets. A new study developed nanoparticles (red in the blood clot pictured) which successfully mimicked platelet ability to hone in on a bleeding injury and clump together to form a plug. They also boosted fibrin (green) growth, further securing the blockade. Stabilising blood clots like this, even when natural platelets are depleted, could fill an important gap in current treatments, and save countless lives.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Ujjal Didar Singh Sekhon and colleagues, Case Western Reserve University
• Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Science Translational Medicine, January 2022