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This issue highlights the use of ultrasound for the on-demand delivery of an anaesthetic, and also includes advances in nanoparticle delivery to tumours, the biocompatibility of iron oxide nanoparticles, and technology for measuring local drug kinetics in small animals. The cover illustrates the concept of on-demand nerve block via ultrasound-triggered drug delivery of an anaesthetic (Article).
Uniform iron oxide nanoparticles with a hydrodynamic diameter of about 12 nm offer high biocompatibility and diagnostic yield as contrast agents for the magnetic resonance imaging of large animals.
Exosomes expressing CD47 and loaded with interfering RNA dodge phagocytosis and accumulate in pancreatic tumours to silence the expression of the oncogene Kras in mice, with remarkable therapeutic efficacy.
Uniform iron oxide nanoparticle clusters are highly biocompatible and can be used as contrast agents for high-resolution magnetic resonance angiography of large animals.
Ultrasound pulses controlling the release of an anaesthetic encapsulated in liposomes allow for the timing, intensity and duration of sciatic-nerve blocks in rats.
A system consisting of a glass microelectrode and a boron-doped diamond microsensor can simultaneously track, in rat brains and in the guinea pig cochlea, the local real-time kinetics of injected drugs and the resulting electrophysiological activity.
Polymer–lipid–peptide nanoparticles carrying an antiplatelet antibody and a chemotherapy drug deplete tumour-associated platelets to increase vascular permeability and augment the accumulation of the drug in tumours.