Chelsea Jobe
2:44pm
Friday, September 18th, 2009
A new scientific medical breakthrough has just hit the news and it's a big one. Scientists at Clemson University have recently created a Nanoparticle gel that creates new blood vessels and encourages the body's own stem cells to create new bone or brain cells! This is a huge breakthrough if we can learn how to use this stuff well enough and see what else it can do or heal! They tested it on rats who had serious brain injuries and within 12 weeks they had recovered most of their original muscle and sensory functions. This is basic neurological regeneration of damaged tissue. The hydrogel is a major medical breakthrough. Sadly the doctors had to give the rats damage to the brain equivalent to a human having a bad car accident. :( But after fluid rushed to the damaged site on the rat's head they took that fluid away and replaced it with the hydrogel that has three different neural growth factors, each one encased in a different biodegradable nanoparticle. Then the body's temperature turns the gel into a gelatin scaffold that spurs the creation of new blood vessels to help feed the recovering organ. Over the next several weeks the nanoparticles break apart releasing the contents. The first growth factors find neural stem cells and prep them for travel to the damaged area. The second growth factor helps the stem cells travel to the injury site. The third and final growth factor turns the stem cells into new neurons and glial cells. Twelve weeks after the injury to the brain and head the rats had recovered almost all of their original sensory and motor functions. The memory of the rats and the learning capabilities were also increased when compared with rats that were traumatized but untreated.
I think this is a major breakthrough for our medical field and can't believe that something like this was discovered or created! What would happen if these nanoparticles were put inside an animal that had no trauma? Would it increase the ability for learning and memory? Are there benefits of these particles without injury to the body? What types of injuries and diseases can these particles help heal or even destroy all together. Alzheimer's? There are a lot of questions I would love to ask these doctors. I hope we can use this information and this breakthrough for a lot of good in the future and I think we will.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32840280/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/
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