Studeo
24th June 2010, 18:52
World's First Plastic Antibodies in Live Organisms: Stop Spread of Bee
Venom in Mice
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100621141026.htm
ScienceDaily (June 22, 2010) — UC Irvine researchers have developed
the first "plastic antibodies" successfully employed in live organisms
-- stopping the spread of bee venom through the bloodstream of mice.
Tiny polymeric particles -- just 1/50,000th the width of a human hair
-- were designed to match and encase melittin, a peptide in bee venom
that causes cells to rupture, releasing their contents. Large
quantities of melittin can lead to organ failure and death.
The polymer nanoparticles were prepared by "molecular imprinting" a
technique similar to plaster casting: UCI chemistry professor Kenneth
Shea and project scientist Yu Hoshino linked melittin with small
molecules called monomers, solidifying the two into a network of long
polymer chains. After the plastic hardened, they removed the melittin,
leaving nanoparticles with minuscule melittin-shaped holes.
When injected into mice given high doses of melittin, these precisely
imprinted nanoparticles enveloped the matching melittin molecules,
"capturing" them before they could disperse and wreak havoc -- greatly
reducing deaths among the rodents.
"Never before have synthetic antibodies been shown to effectively
function in the bloodstream of living animals," Shea says. "This
technique could be utilized to make plastic nanoparticles designed to
fight more lethal toxins and pathogens."
Takashi Kodama of Stanford University and Hiroyuki Koide, Takeo
Urakami, Hiroaki Kanazawa and Naoto Oku of Japan's University of
Shizuoka also contributed to the study, published recently in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Unlike natural antibodies produced by live organisms and harvested for
medical use, synthetic antibodies can be created in laboratories at a
lower cost and have a longer shelf life.
"The bloodstream includes a sea of competing molecules -- such as
proteins, peptides and cells -- and presents considerable challenges
for the design of nanoparticles," Shea says. "The success of this
experiment demonstrates that these challenges can be overcome."
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by
ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of
California - Irvine
Venom in Mice
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100621141026.htm
ScienceDaily (June 22, 2010) — UC Irvine researchers have developed
the first "plastic antibodies" successfully employed in live organisms
-- stopping the spread of bee venom through the bloodstream of mice.
Tiny polymeric particles -- just 1/50,000th the width of a human hair
-- were designed to match and encase melittin, a peptide in bee venom
that causes cells to rupture, releasing their contents. Large
quantities of melittin can lead to organ failure and death.
The polymer nanoparticles were prepared by "molecular imprinting" a
technique similar to plaster casting: UCI chemistry professor Kenneth
Shea and project scientist Yu Hoshino linked melittin with small
molecules called monomers, solidifying the two into a network of long
polymer chains. After the plastic hardened, they removed the melittin,
leaving nanoparticles with minuscule melittin-shaped holes.
When injected into mice given high doses of melittin, these precisely
imprinted nanoparticles enveloped the matching melittin molecules,
"capturing" them before they could disperse and wreak havoc -- greatly
reducing deaths among the rodents.
"Never before have synthetic antibodies been shown to effectively
function in the bloodstream of living animals," Shea says. "This
technique could be utilized to make plastic nanoparticles designed to
fight more lethal toxins and pathogens."
Takashi Kodama of Stanford University and Hiroyuki Koide, Takeo
Urakami, Hiroaki Kanazawa and Naoto Oku of Japan's University of
Shizuoka also contributed to the study, published recently in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Unlike natural antibodies produced by live organisms and harvested for
medical use, synthetic antibodies can be created in laboratories at a
lower cost and have a longer shelf life.
"The bloodstream includes a sea of competing molecules -- such as
proteins, peptides and cells -- and presents considerable challenges
for the design of nanoparticles," Shea says. "The success of this
experiment demonstrates that these challenges can be overcome."
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by
ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of
California - Irvine