Intranasal mask for protecting the respiratory tract against viral aerosols
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: The spread of many infectious diseases relies on aerosol transmission to the respiratory tract. Here we design an intranasal mask comprising a positively-charged thermosensitive hydrogel and cell-derived micro-sized vesicles with a specific viral receptor. We show that the positively charged hydrogel intercepts negatively charged viral aerosols, while the viral receptor on vesicles mediates the entrapment of viruses for inactivation. We demonstrate that when displaying matched viral receptors, the intranasal masks protect the nasal cavity and lung of mice from either severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or influenza A virus. With computerized tomography images of human nasal cavity, we further conduct computational fluid dynamics simulation and three-dimensional printing of an anatomically accurate human nasal cavity, which is connected to human lung organoids to generate a human respiratory tract model. Both simulative and experimental results support the suitability of intranasal masks in humans, as the likelihood of viral respiratory infections induced by different variant strains is dramatically reduced.
Source: Nature Communications
Institutions: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Process Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, Beihang University, Peking University, Peking University First Hospital, Fujian Medical University
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,290
OpenAlex ID: W4389894070