Trojan Horse effect
{{Short description|Term in scientific literature}}
The Trojan Horse effect is a term used in scientific literature, referring to substances that act as carriers for other compounds, facilitating their transport.
Definition and examples
The effect generally refers to substance that facilitate the diffusion of other compounds. An example of this concept is observed with microplastics which act as carriers of organic compounds to new sites in the environment via sorption and desorption.{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Ming |last2=Xu |first2=Liheng |title=Transport of micro- and nanoplastics in the environment: Trojan-Horse effect for organic contaminants |journal=Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology |date=4 March 2022 |volume=52 |issue=5 |pages=810–846 |doi=10.1080/10643389.2020.1845531|bibcode=2022CREST..52..810Z |s2cid=228865980 }}
Medicine
It is also utilized in the field of medicine, for example to allow for the administration of medicine across the blood–brain barrier via lipid nanoparticles.{{cite journal |last1=Pardridge |first1=William M. |title=Brain gene therapy with Trojan horse lipid nanoparticles |journal=Trends in Molecular Medicine |date=May 2023 |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=343–353 |doi=10.1016/j.molmed.2023.02.004|pmid=36907687 |pmc=10005896 }} The Trojan Horse effect is utilized by some antibiotics. By having the active compound bound to a mimic compound of molecules which are desirable to the bacteria.{{cite journal |last1=Travin |first1=Dmitrii Y. |last2=Severinov |first2=Konstantin |last3=Dubiley |first3=Svetlana |title=Natural Trojan horse inhibitors of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases |journal=RSC Chemical Biology |date=2021 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=468–485 |doi=10.1039/d0cb00208a|pmid=34382000 |pmc=8323819 }}
References
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