Bioactive nanoparticles improve calcium handling in failing cardiac myocytes.

Aims: To evaluate the ability of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) decorated nanoparticles and their cargo to modulate calcium handling in failing cardiac myocytes (CMs).
Materials & Methods: Primary CMs isolated from normal and failing hearts were treated with GlcNAc nanoparticles in order to assess the ability of the nanoparticles and their cargo to correct dysfunctional calcium handling in failing myocytes.
Results & Conclusion: GlcNAc particles reduced aberrant calcium release in failing CMs and restored sarcomere function. Additionally, encapsulation of a small calcium-modulating protein, S100A1, in GlcNAc nanoparticles also showed improved calcium regulation. Thus, the development of our bioactive nanoparticle allows for a 'two-hit' treatment, by which the cargo and also the nanoparticle itself can modulate intracellular protein activity.
Competing Interests: Financial & competing interests disclosure This publication has been funded in whole or in part with the federal funds from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN268201000043C, as well as grant HL090601 to ME Davis and American Heart Association grant 11GRNT7490000 to MB Wagner. The authors also wish to acknowledge the support of the Children's Miracle Network gift to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, funding from the Center for Pediatric Nanomedicine at Georgia Institute of Technology and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.