Will nanomycells cure spinal cord injury?

Nanoparticles for spinal cord repair
Elena Novoselova, STRF.ruAmerican scientists have found a new application for nanoparticles traditionally used for drug delivery.

It turned out that micellar nanospheres can themselves serve as a material for repairing damage to the nerve fibers of the spinal cord when they are surgically injected into the blood immediately after the violation.

Synthetic micelles up to 60 nm in size have been used since the late 1970s for targeted drug delivery, for example in the treatment of oncological diseases.

Researchers from Purdue University suggest using micelles to restore the ability of damaged axons to conduct electrical impulses to the spinal cord. Nanoparticles can be used instead of traditional membrane seals due to the properties of polyethylene glycol, which forms the outer hydrophobic shell of the micelle. Micelles themselves find damage to nerve fibers and form seals at this place.

Nanoparticles can stay in the bloodstream for a long time and not be filtered out by the kidneys. At the same time, the authors of the study claim that there are no toxic properties of these nanoparticles if the correct dosage is observed.

Animal experiments have already been carried out, confirming the effectiveness of the use of micelles to restore the ability to conduct an electrical signal to the spinal cord in paralyzed animals. The measurement of the total potential showed that the use of micelles as a sealer increased the number of restored axons to 60 percent of the total number of damaged ones compared to 18 percent of the control group.

The results of the work (Effective repair of traumatically injured spinal cord by nanoscale block copolymer micelles) are published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru10.11.2009