Conquer Club

Researchers have reduced blood alcohol levels in intoxicated mice by injecting them with nanocapsules containing enzymes that are instrumental in alcohol metabolism. The treatment demonstrates a novel drug delivery technology that could have broad medical applications.

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze a wide range of biological processes in the body, making them attractive candidates as therapeutics. Many important biological functions require precisely arranged groups of different enzymes working in concert, often inside a cellular subcomponent called an organelle. Though researchers have tried for years to develop such complexes in the lab, it has proved extremely difficult to maintain stable proteins and precisely control their size and arrangement.

The new research, which was described today in Nature Nanotechnology, involves packaging multiple enzymes inside a nanoscale shell. The resulting functional enzyme complex, made of a nontoxic polymer, “almost mimics an organelle,” says Yunfeng Lu, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA, who lead the research with Cheng Ji, a professor of biochemical and molecular biology at the University of Southern California. The capsule stabilizes the proteins and protects them against degrading in the body.

To demonstrate the efficacy of the delivery method, the researchers injected the mice with capsules containing two enzymes. One of them, oxidase, produces hydrogen peroxide, so it has to work in concert with another enzyme that decomposes this potentially harmful by-product. The researchers report that the mice receiving the enzyme treatment saw their blood alcohol content fall quickly and significantly compared with controls.

The advance could open the door to a new class of enzyme drugs, says Lu. Down the road, for example, he envisions an alcohol prophylactic or antidote that could be taken orally. Since alcohol metabolism naturally occurs in the liver, it would “almost be like having millions of liver cell units inside your stomach or in your intestine, helping you to digest alcohol,” he says.

The group is also developing other drugs based on the encapsulation method. For example, it is working with the pharmaceutical company Kythera on a hair-loss prevention drug that would rely on nanocapsules to deliver—through the skin—an enzyme that breaks down dihydrotestosterone (commonly called DHT), which causes male pattern baldness.

Haggis_McMutton wrote:a pill which can sober you up in minutes

One of them, oxidase, produces hydrogen peroxide

MeDeFe wrote:

Haggis_McMutton wrote:a pill injection which can sober you up in minutes

But... what for?

Ok, other than saving the life of someone stupid fuck who's got 0.5% BAC or more.

Haggis_McMutton wrote:To anyone who actually know shit about biology:

Would this also eliminate hangovers? Would it depend on how long you spent in the drunk state before taking the drug?

BigBallinStalin wrote:

One of them, oxidase, produces hydrogen peroxide

wat

The group is also developing other drugs based on the encapsulation method. For example, it is working with the pharmaceutical company Kythera on a hair-loss prevention drug that would rely on nanocapsules to deliver—through the skin—an enzyme that breaks down dihydrotestosterone (commonly called DHT), which causes male pattern baldness.

Haggis_McMutton wrote:To anyone who actually know shit about biology:

Would this also eliminate hangovers? Would it depend on how long you spent in the drunk state before taking the drug?

notyou2 wrote:I wonder if the pill has liver effects too......DOUBLE WHAMMY

TA1LGUNN3R wrote:

BigBallinStalin wrote:

One of them, oxidase, produces hydrogen peroxide

wat

Oxidases are used naturally by aerobic organisms anyway. Basically, they are enzymes that catalyze reduction reactions that take harmful oxygen that are final electron acceptors and reduce it to H20 or H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). They allow organisms to use oxygen.

-TG

rdsrds2120 wrote:

notyou2 wrote:I wonder if the pill has liver effects too......DOUBLE WHAMMY

Double the scarring of cirrhosis with half the fun!

BMO

BigBallinStalin wrote:

TA1LGUNN3R wrote:

BigBallinStalin wrote:

One of them, oxidase, produces hydrogen peroxide

wat

Oxidases are used naturally by aerobic organisms anyway. Basically, they are enzymes that catalyze reduction reactions that take harmful oxygen that are final electron acceptors and reduce it to H20 or H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). They allow organisms to use oxygen.

-TG

How does the H202 not harm the aerobic organisms? Isn't producing that counterproductive?

TA1LGUNN3R wrote:

BigBallinStalin wrote:

TA1LGUNN3R wrote:

BigBallinStalin wrote:

One of them, oxidase, produces hydrogen peroxide

wat

Oxidases are used naturally by aerobic organisms anyway. Basically, they are enzymes that catalyze reduction reactions that take harmful oxygen that are final electron acceptors and reduce it to H20 or H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). They allow organisms to use oxygen.

-TG

How does the H202 not harm the aerobic organisms? Isn't producing that counterproductive?

It's in small amounts, then picked up and flushed out of your system. Or recycled or something, I don't quite remember. But H2O2 isn't as harmful as any of the oxygen radicals. It's only really harmful when there are large amounts around damaged tissue (where structural integrity is compromised or weakening of cell walls means they can't protect themselves from H2O2). Without oxidase we would be anaerobic like certain bacteria and such. Has to do with the whole electron transport chain (part of cellular respiration if you can remember back to your high school biology) and oxygen being the final electron acceptor. Oxygen by itself is pretty nasty to cells.

-TG

BigBallinStalin wrote:

TA1LGUNN3R wrote:

BigBallinStalin wrote:

TA1LGUNN3R wrote:

BigBallinStalin wrote:

One of them, oxidase, produces hydrogen peroxide

wat

Oxidases are used naturally by aerobic organisms anyway. Basically, they are enzymes that catalyze reduction reactions that take harmful oxygen that are final electron acceptors and reduce it to H20 or H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). They allow organisms to use oxygen.

-TG

How does the H202 not harm the aerobic organisms? Isn't producing that counterproductive?

It's in small amounts, then picked up and flushed out of your system. Or recycled or something, I don't quite remember. But H2O2 isn't as harmful as any of the oxygen radicals. It's only really harmful when there are large amounts around damaged tissue (where structural integrity is compromised or weakening of cell walls means they can't protect themselves from H2O2). Without oxidase we would be anaerobic like certain bacteria and such. Has to do with the whole electron transport chain (part of cellular respiration if you can remember back to your high school biology) and oxygen being the final electron acceptor. Oxygen by itself is pretty nasty to cells.

-TG

Interesting... which reminds me.

Does the "secret to longevity" involve cellular regeneration and/or the elimination/reduction of free-floating radicals?

If those are the primary ares, then which matters most?
And what can humans currently do in order to mitigate the damage from radicals or increase regeneration?

Can the goal be accomplished by increasing the production of one's stem cells (if at all possible)?
(Would we have to suck the "life force" from baby fetuses--or feti, if you prefer?)

Stem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide (through mitosis) and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells. In mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells, which are found in various tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all the specialized cells (these are called pluripotent cells), but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.
There are three accessible sources of autologous adult stem cells in humans:
Bone marrow, which requires extraction by harvesting, that is, drilling into bone (typically the femur or iliac crest),
Adipose tissue (lipid cells), which requires extraction by liposuction, and
Blood, which requires extraction through pheresis, wherein blood is drawn from the donor (similar to a blood donation), passed through a machine that extracts the stem cells and returns other portions of the blood to the donor.
Stem cells can also be taken from umbilical cord blood just after birth. Of all stem cell types, autologous harvesting involves the least risk. By definition, autologous cells are obtained from one's own body, just as one may bank his or her own blood for elective surgical procedures.
Highly plastic adult stem cells are routinely used in medical therapies, for example in bone marrow transplantation. Stem cells can now be artificially grown and transformed (differentiated) into specialized cell types with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture. Embryonic cell lines and autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning have also been proposed as promising candidates for future therapies.[1] Research into stem cells grew out of findings by Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till at the University of Toronto in the 1960s.[2][3]Israel is one of the world leaders in stem cell research, with the largest number of articles, patents and research studies per capita.[4]

BBS wrote:Interesting... which reminds me.

Does the "secret to longevity" involve cellular regeneration and/or the elimination/reduction of free-floating radicals?

If those are the primary ares, then which matters most?
And what can humans currently do in order to mitigate the damage from radicals or increase regeneration?

Can the goal be accomplished by increasing the production of one's stem cells (if at all possible)?
(Would we have to suck the "life force" from baby fetuses--or feti, if you prefer?)

BBS wrote:but there's no one (to my knowledge) conducting the proper research,