Plasminogen activator entrapped within injectable alumina: a novel approach to thrombolysis treatment

Abstract

A major obstacle in the development of new enzyme-based thrombolytic systems is their low stability and extremely short half-life (usually, less than 2–6 min of circulation half-life), which requires their administration in large doses to obtain therapeutic effects, and as a consequence, inevitably leads to a significant incidence of hemorrhagic complications. Here we point to a potential solution of this problem by developing a new family of injectable composites for thrombolysis: plasminogen activator entrapped within alumina, where alumina is a pertinent drug carrier developed to prolong activity in vivo and to reduce the total administered dose of the drug necessary for the treatment, and hence its side effects.