Hill Villi 1
Hill Villi 1
George Eng
Koch Institute at MIT
These images show nanoparticles illuminating the intestines of mice. The punctate light dots are micro-nanoparticles we use to deliver encapsulated drugs and proteins to the intestine. The intestine in mice and humans look similar, with these “villi” or finger-like projections that increase surface area so we can absorb nutrition. The nanoparticles have a fluorescent dye impregnated into them so we can visualize their trafficking and transport. They so happened to nicely highlight the villous architecture of the mouse intestine when we fed the nanoparticles to mice.