Treating Fetus as Patient Can Reduce Preterm Birth
by Anjanee Sharma on
January 23, 2021 at 5:42 PM
Texas-based researchers pave the way for developing a new medicine delivery system that could reduce the incidence of preterm labor and premature birth by treating the fetus as the patient.
Preterm labor is suspected to be triggered by inflammation caused by the fetus being sick. Researchers have proven this hypothesis by studying assumptions about the relationship between a mother and the fetus's health.
Dr. Ramkumar Menon and his team tested bioengineered exosomes as a delivery system for anti-inflammatory medicine directly to the fetus.
"Exosomes are natural nanoparticles or vesicles in our bodies, and we have trillions of them circulating through us at all times. By packaging the medicine inside a bioengineered exosome and injecting it into the mother intravenously, the exosomes travel through the blood system, cross the placental barrier and arrive in the fetus, where they deliver the medicine," explains Dr. Menon.