Innovations on the laboratory table
Vladimir Sychev, STRF.ru
Any living organism, including humans, is a biosensor that reacts to environmental changes – the purity of the air, the quality of food and water. But many organisms detect the presence of health-threatening factors much faster than the "crown of nature", so biologists have long had the idea to use their sensory abilities to preserve people's health. New methods of biotesting developed at the MSU biofactory can already be applied in practice.
Living organisms have long been used for testing purposes. The Ames genotoxicity test performed on bacteria has already become a classic. And with the help of daphnia crustaceans, ecologists have learned to effectively determine the degree of contamination of reservoirs. But the environment is changing rapidly due to human influence and, as a rule, not for the better. Therefore, the task of developing more and more advanced, accurate, fast testing methods, which is set before scientists, will not lose its relevance for a long time.
"In our country, it is simply necessary to introduce new methods of biotesting, complementing traditional methods of analysis with them," says Natalia Prisukha, head of the interdepartmental laboratory of biological testing, established two years ago on the basis of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology of the MSU Biofactory. – In the field of food and medicinal substances production in Russia, it is necessary to tighten quality control – both of the initial products and raw materials components. After all, instead of the former GOST system, technical specifications (TU) are now used, which each manufacturer actually develops for himself. How these specifications relate to the harmlessness of a particular product is a big question."
Physico-chemical or microbiological control methods used in production laboratories, as it turns out, cannot always give an adequate picture of the effect of a substance on the whole organism. In addition, many materials of both natural and synthetic origin are multicomponent, which further complicates their standardization. This is where the main advantage of biological objects that MSU works with is manifested over traditional testing methods: they allow us to assess the effect of a substance at the level of the whole organism.
Accuracy and precisionAlmost all employees of the MSU biofactory use methods of testing biological objects in their activities to one degree or another – both widely known and their own original developments, many of which are unique.
Currently, faculty members own almost two hundred methods of laboratory analysis. To combine them into a kind of battery of tests, to think about how to apply them not only for scientific, but also for quite applied needs, to make a service out of an element of research – such tasks were assigned to a new division – the interdepartmental laboratory of biological testing.
The list of tests already conducted by the laboratory includes a dozen and a half methods for testing substances – from detecting their geno-, cytotoxicity, antioxidant activity and other biochemical parameters up to studying the effect of substances on behavioral reactions. According to Natalia Prisukha, the testing methods used in the laboratory, including the express tests created in it, can successfully replace a number of currently existing experiments on mammals, since biofacial developments are relatively cheaper and differ from other methods in the short time of staging and conducting experiments. The combination of new technologies and time-tested methods makes it possible to create a flexible testing system that allows you to assess the quality of a particular drug most fully and quickly.
Such an opportunity, for example, is provided by a unique method of studying the effect of minimal concentrations of chemicals on cell proliferation and differentiation – "Morphotest". The biological model of this system is the regeneration of the head part of the body of freshwater planarian flatworms. This process is influenced by a variety of chemical environmental factors: heavy metals, pesticides, various neurotropic drugs, steroid and peptide hormones, and other biologically active substances. Accordingly, even a small fraction of any of the listed substances prevents the normal course of regeneration. To date, according to the researchers, this method is the most sensitive among the known ones.
"Alternative tests are mainly designed for in–line testing of raw materials and finished forms," says Natalia Prisukha. – It is not difficult to reproduce them at any enterprise within the framework of quality control laboratories. We can train the appropriate specialists, and we already have training programs for their work in express laboratories created directly on the basis of manufacturers."
The list of objects on which testing can be carried out includes molecular systems, cell cultures, vertebrates; compounds both natural and artificially synthesized, used in the food and pharmaceutical industry, cosmetology, household chemicals.
Is the water alive?As for specific research examples, doubts about the quality of some products have found unexpected confirmation.
The experimenters took a biological supplement, which, according to the advertisement, improves the state of the cardiovascular system. We tested it on chicken embryos – and instead of the expected vasodilating effect, we got the exact opposite result. Moreover, continuing to find out the properties of the supplement already in rats, physiologists found liver cirrhosis in experimental animals. The reason for this is poor purification of plant components, which are the basis of the supplement.
Another experiment is no less impressive. We tested mineral water of the brand that is sold on every corner. The contents of the bottles of one of the batches dramatically – by forty percent – inhibited the regeneration of planaria. Scientists began to find out from which well the mineral water was spilled. It turned out that the source is located on the site of an old cemetery near Krasnogorsk.
Without fear of making a mistake, we can assume that the manufacturers of both products did not even think to test them thoroughly, unwittingly giving ordinary people the opportunity to play the role of biosensors. But the methods of university biologists would be very useful. Otherwise, it turns out like in a lottery: I took an advertised drug, washed it down with mineral water – and be healthy ... if I'm lucky.
How do students earn money on coursework?The backbone of the biological testing laboratory consists of ten people: scientific consultants, managers, customer service specialists, as well as performers themselves.
But since the project was originally conceived as an interdisciplinary one, additional experimenters are involved for each series of studies – ichthyologists, embryologists, neuroscientists, and other specialists. In one way or another, employees of most of the 26 departments of the biofac interact with the laboratory.
Students also became an active part of the team. The commercial attractiveness of the laboratory's projects plays an important role: "Even a term paper can start research that can go commercial," says Natalia Prisukha. – A student doing coursework receives money for research activities – almost a scholarship a week."
Business TestWhen conceiving the interfaculty laboratory, the biofactors wanted to use the scientific potential of the faculty, their innovative developments in the field of biotesting from the point of view of their commercial application.
"Of course, we are looking for contacts in the business environment," says the head of the laboratory. – We have created a methodological base for conducting biotests, have passed licensing. We need customers. Unfortunately, money from business very often comes to those who give good advertising to questionable things. It comes to financial support for psychics. This is crazy! In order not to deceive people, you can not hack. You can't call an employee and say, “Write the way the customer likes it.” Professional pride will not allow scientists to behave like this. The traditions laid down at the biofactory by various schools are quite strong. Yes, a person will not be able to falsify the results: if the tested drug simply does not work, he will write so."
The laboratory is already ready to accept orders for biotesting. There is everything for conducting experiments on the stream – a wide arsenal of high-quality techniques, qualified specialists, an authoritative brand of biofac. The expert opinions issued by the staff of the interdepartmental laboratory are worth a lot – not so much in the direct, monetary sense, as in terms of reputation.
Independence of verdicts as a service can be expensive to sell, but its support requires efforts on the part of scientists. Therefore, they also have to pass a kind of business test. We, including as ordinary consumers, are directly interested in biologists successfully coping with it.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru11.02.2008