Objective: Interstitial fluid in extracellular matrices may not be totally fixed but partially flow through long-distance oriented fibrous connective tissues via physical mechanisms. We hypothesized there is a long-distance interstitial fluid transport network beyond vascular circulations.
Materials and methods:We first used 20 volunteers to determine hypodermic entrant points to visualize long-distance extravascular pathway by MRI. We then investigated the extravascular pathways initiating from the point of thumb in cadavers by chest compressor. The distributions and structures of long-distance pathways from extremity ending to associated visceral structures were identified.Results: Using fluorescent tracer, the pathways from right thumb to right atrium wall near chest were visualized in seven of 10 subjects. The cutaneous pathways were found in dermic, hypodermic and fascial tissues of hand and forearm. The perivascular pathways were along the veins of arm, axillary sheath, superior vena cava and into the superficial tissues on right atrium. Histological and micro-CT data showed these pathways were neither blood nor lymphatic vessels but long-distance oriented fibrous matrices, which contained the longitudinally assembled micro-scale fibres consistently from thumb to superficial tissues on right atrium.
The fabrication of hollow microspheres to encapsulate functional molecules, such as drugs, insecticides, and proteins, is of ever-increasing importance. Many chemical and physicochemical methods have been tested for various specific encapsulations, but most of them have not been developed into an industrial process. In this work, we present a straightforward method to prepare liquid core-polymer shell microcapsules by first templating an oil-in-water emulsion stabilized by an interfacial monolayer of polystyrene latex particles (often referred to as "Pickering emulsion"), and subsequently locking the assembled particles into a robust polymeric shell through the precipitation of a biodegradable polymer poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) at the interface. The resultant microcapsules that have a solid polymeric enveloped around the oil droplets are stable and retain their integrity during the drying in air. Therefore, they should have great potential to serve as vehicles for encapsulating functional molecules especially hydrophobic in nature.
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