Bypassing the traditional delivery technologies for antibiotics, European investigators say they successfully tested the use of nanoparticles in delivering antibiotics for respiratory infections, slipping through biological barriers and zeroing in better on the target. The treatment was made by adding a biodegradable polymer oil, stabilizer and clarithromycin dissolved in solvents to an aqueous surfactant solution. "The delivery of nanoparticles in this way enables their deposition in cells cultivated in vitro in a similar way to the deposition in vivo, which take place in the alveoli (air sacs found in the respiratory tract)," noted Cristiane Carvalho-Wodarz, from the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research, Saarbrücken, German. Release