Universal glue for body cells targets drugs

Should you rip off a Band-Aid quickly or peel it back inch-by-inch? A universal "body glue" that sticks cells together means you might not have to do either. The glue could also help to deliver drugs to the exact cells that need them, avoiding nasty side effects from less targeted treatments such as chemotherapy.

All mammalian cells are surrounded by a membrane covered in polyvalent choline phosphate, or PC-groups, that repel aqueous particles, protecting the cell from the environment.

Donald Brooks and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, rearranged the particles in PC-groups to reverse their polarisation. They then decorated large polymers with these new CP-groups.

When added to human blood, the CP molecules stuck to the PC-groups on blood cell membranes because of their opposite charges.

Brooks says a piece of film covered in CP-decorated molecules would stop bleeding by sticking the exposed blood cells together.

What's more, he says, the adhesive can be reversed by adding more PC-groups, displacing and freeing the cells, providing a "more biologically compatible association than is provided by normal adhesives".

The team also found that some tissues can absorb CP-molecules, suggesting that the molecules could be attached to drugs to deliver them into specific cells without affecting others.

Journal reference: Nature Materials, DOI: 10.1038/nmat3272

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