From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Aug 14 2003 - 18:59:38 MDT
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-08/uocf-ubc081303.php
UCF brain cell research spawns hope for longer life
University of Central Florida researchers find that
nanomaterials developed for industry triple or
quadruple life of brain cells
ORLANDO, Aug. 13, 2003 -- A molecular biologist and a
nanoscientist at the University of Central Florida
have found that nanomaterials developed for industry
have an unexpected and potentially revolutionary side
effect: They can triple or quadruple the life of brain
cells.
The result is people could live longer and with fewer
age-related health problems.
Beverly Rzigalinski, assistant professor in the
Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology and
at the Biomolecular Sciences Center, and Sudipta Seal,
associate engineering professor at the Advanced
Materials Processing and Analysis Center and the
Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace
Engineering, will receive $1.4 million from the
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on
Aging to study the reasons behind the reaction and
possible future applications.
Rzigalinski has spent the bulk of her career on
NIH-funded research from the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke studying how brain
cells "talk" to each other, most recently focusing on
microglia -- a specialized cell that responds to brain
injury and initiates the response to either repair or
destroy the damaged neuron. Seal creates nanostructure
materials and recently developed a process for
engineering particles on a nanoscale -- so they might
have more efficient industrial applications.
Because of the current flurry of publicity that
anti-oxidants have received for their potential
anti-aging properties, Rzigalinski decided to explore
introducing the miniaturized particles to the brain
cells of rats.
"In culture, rat brain cells usually live about three
weeks," Rzigalinski said. "The cells exposed to the
engineered nanoparticles lived three to four times
longer."
To confirm the results, Rzigalinski, the grant's
principal investigator, repeated the process multiple
times and found that cells exposed to a single dose of
engineered nano-oxide particles routinely outlived the
untreated cells by three- to four-fold, with the
longest living cell lasting 123 days.
Rzigalinski then explored the quality of the aged
neurons and found they were signaling or "talking" to
each other in the same manner as their youthful
counterparts. "This shows there is a potential not
just to extend the life span but to preserve
function," she said.
Seal has worked on developing oxide particles for high
temperature production since his undergraduate days in
the late 1980s. In 2000, as he took over the
coordination of UCF's nanotechnology initiative, he
and a student developed ultrafine nano-sized powders
and solutions. The particles, less than 10 nanometers
(about 30 atoms) in size, not only offered a more
efficient coating for use in machines but also opened
the door for biological studies in collaboration with
Rzigalinski.
When a university research administrator aware of the
work of each scientist introduced the two, the
possibilities immediately began forming. "This type of
cross-disciplinary partnership is what we dream
about," said Pallavoor Vaidyanathan, assistant vice
president for research. It is also critical to forging
frontiers in nanoscience.
Research in the medical profession suggests that a
major component of aging is free radical damage to
cells. Free radical scavengers, often taken in the
form of vitamins, can counter the damage to a very
limited degree. A regenerative nanoparticle, such as
the one developed by Rzigalinski and Seal, offers
promise of negating those problems and could be
helpful in treatment of certain age-related disorders
-- such as Alzheimer's disease -- as well as arthritis
and other joint-related problems, Rzigalinski says.
Most recently, the Rzigalinski lab has found that the
nanoparticles have potent anti-inflammatory
properties. The investigators plan to explore the
possibility of creating a coating from the particles
that could be used for vascular and orthopedic
implants, stents and other devices that are prone to
inflammatory reactions.
Initial tests show that the nanoparticle anti-oxidants
regenerate once they penetrate the cell -- meaning one
dose could conceivably continue its therapeutic
effects indefinitely.
Rzigalinski introduced the collaboration to her
colleagues at the NATURE biotechnology symposium in
Miami earlier this year. She has also submitted an
abstract on the project to the National and
International Neurotrauma Symposium, and Society for
Neuroscience.
Nanotechnology is considered the new frontier of
science, and it could revolutionize modern medicine in
the future. The potential for creating new materials
at a size capable of being absorbed by human cells
calls for a new type of scientist -- one who can
collaborate across seemingly unrelated disciplines.
Combining the fields of biomolecular science with
engineering offers a significant step in that
direction.
Pappachan Kolattukudy, director of UCF's Biomolecular
Science Center and a consultant on the project, said
the collaboration is part of a strategy that UCF is
going to be using increasingly in building its
presence in the biomolecular sciences.
"We are concentrating on building interfaces between
areas in which we have strengths," Kolattukudy said.
Vimal Desai, director of AMPAC, said that
nanomaterials are currently considered highly
strategic for important applications ranging from
homeland security to just plain good health.
"It is so good to be able to build bridges for an
interdisciplinary effort through competent and dynamic
researchers at UCF," Desai said.
###
Best, Jeff Davis
"Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
Ray Charles
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Aug 14 2003 - 19:13:44 MDT