Intravenously injected nanopharmaceuticals, including PEGylated nanoparticles, induce adverse cardiopulmonary reactions in sensitive human subjects, and these reactions are highly reproducible in pigs. Although the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, roles for both the complement system and reactive macrophages have been implicated. Here, we show the dominance and importance of robust pulmonary intravascular macrophage clearance of nanoparticles in mediating adverse cardiopulmonary distress in pigs irrespective of complement activation. Specifically, we show that delaying particle recognition by macrophages within the first few minutes of injection overcomes adverse reactions in pigs using two independent approaches. First, we changed the particle geometry from a spherical shape (which triggers cardiopulmonary distress) to either rod- or disk-shape morphology. Second, we physically adhered spheres to the surface of erythrocytes. These strategies, which are distinct from commonly leveraged stealth engineering approaches such as nanoparticle surface functionalization with poly(ethylene glycol) and/or immunological modulators, prevent robust macrophage recognition, resulting in the reduction or mitigation of adverse cardiopulmonary distress associated with nanopharmaceutical administration.

Intravascular drug delivery technologies majorly utilize spherical nanoparticles as carrier vehicles. Their targets are often at the blood vessel wall or in the tissue beyond the wall, such that vehicle localization towards the wall (margination) becomes a pre-requisite for their function. To this end, some studies have indicated that under flow environment, micro-particles have a higher propensity than nano-particles to marginate to the wall. Also, non-spherical particles theoretically have a higher area of surface-adhesive interactions than spherical particles. However, detailed systematic studies that integrate various particle size and shape parameters across nano-to-micro scale to explore their wall-localization behavior in RBC-rich blood flow, have not been reported. We address this gap by carrying out computational and experimental studies utilizing particles of four distinct shapes (spherical, oblate, prolate, rod) spanning nano- to-micro scale sizes. Computational studies were performed using the Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator (LAMMPS) package, with Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD). For experimental studies, model particles were made from neutrally buoyant fluorescent polystyrene spheres, that were thermo-stretched into non-spherical shapes and all particles were surface-coated with biotin. Using microfluidic setup, the biotin-coated particles were flowed over avidin-coated surfaces in absence versus presence of RBCs, and particle adhesion and retention at the surface was assessed by inverted fluorescence microscopy. Our computational and experimental studies provide a simultaneous analysis of different particle sizes and shapes for their retention in blood flow and indicate that in presence of RBCs, micro-scale non-spherical particles undergo enhanced 'margination + adhesion' compared to nano-scale spherical particles, resulting in their higher binding. These results provide important insight regarding improved design of vascularly targeted drug delivery systems.

Uncontrolled noncompressible hemorrhage is a major cause of mortality following traumatic injuries in civilian and military populations. An injectable hemostat for point-of-care treatment of noncompressible hemorrhage represents an urgent medical need. Here, we describe an injectable hemostatic agent via polymer peptide interfusion (HAPPI), a hyaluronic acid conjugate with a collagen-binding peptide and a von Willebrand factor–binding peptide. HAPPI exhibited selective binding to activated platelets and promoted their accumulation at the wound site in vitro. In vivo studies in mouse tail vein laceration model demonstrated a reduction of >97% in both bleeding time and blood loss. A 284% improvement in the survival time was observed in the rat inferior vena cava traumatic model. Lyophilized HAPPI could be stably stored at room temperature for several months and reconstituted during therapeutic intervention. HAPPI provides a potentially clinically translatable intravenous hemostat.

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Development of a high throughput screening workflow to characterize the impact of unique PEG-lipid parameters on oligonucleotide-loaded lipid nanoparticle structure and function.