UC Researchers Explore Nano To Help Unlock Secrets to Central Nervous System Repair
Enterprising scientists in southern California are exploring how nano-sciences and neuro-sciences might work more closely together to unlock secrets to recovery from central nervous system injuries.
The work, which is being done at The University of California San Diego (UCSD)’s Silva Research Group for Cellular Neural Engineering, focuses on using nanotechnologies to study neuropathological processes. The aim is to help neuroscientists better understand the physiology of and develop treatments for disorders such as brain injury, spinal cord injury, degenerative retinal disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The demand for better cognitive therapeutics is exploding," concluded
a study of the brain industry made public in July by NeuroInsights, a
San Francisco research firm. "One quarter of the population will be at
high risk for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease by 2025.
The report estimated the worldwide revenue for this neurotechnology
brain related biotech niche alone at $100 billion last year, a 13
percent increase from 2003, with the lion's share of that produced by a
few established drug companies. [For additional information]
The UCSD lab is just over a year old. But under the direction of its founder Dr. Gabriel Silva, and his cross-disciplinary approach to blending neuro- and nano-sciences, the lab is helping science push the limit of what’s known about how neurons get damaged or die, as well as how they can be repaired – or even regenerated.
We’re not interested in developing just general nanotech platforms,
per se. All our nanotechnology is pointed at specific problems and
questions in neurosciences and central nervous system (CNS) injury,” Dr.
Silva told Nano World News (NWN). “We’re all about applied
nanotechnology, I would say. So everything nano in our lab is driven by
testing very specific hypotheses, where we want to test the underlying
neuro-physiology.
The research in Silva’s lab falls into 2 core areas:
- Neuro-protection (safeguarding CNS cells from further damage after injury) and
- Neuro-repair (apply therapies to help the body repair damaged CNS).
Most of the early work blending neuro- and nano-sciences done in Dr Silva’s labs and among colleagues looks at how to best apply nano-approaches to interact with neural cells in vitro, studying cell reaction in a dish, he said. But even if the work in confined to a Petri dish, there’s no lack of excitement, he said. “In these kinds of controlled environments, that’s where scientists can start applying nano science to neuroscience to do two things,” Dr Silva said, which is (1) test the applicability of nanotech itself and (2) further test/refine assumptions about how neurons act/react at the molecular level.
Nano Research is Building on the Neuro-Basics
We certainly know a lot about neuroscience at a molecular and
cellular level to begin to interface with the nervous system and
communicate with it,
Dr. Silva said. Neuron gets crushed, that
neuron breaks open and spills all this calcium into the extra-cellular
environment so a nearby neuron can get excited by that calcium, and that
spillage can excite nearby neurons to the point that they can be killed,
or severely damaged.
We’re using quantum dot technology to gather information about how the
CNS environment becomes inhospitable to neuronal regeneration following
injury or degenerative events by studying a process called ‘reactive
gliosis.’
Glial cells, which have traditionally been looked at as housekeeping
cells for neurons, actually have their own communication mechanisms that
can be triggered to become reactive following [a CNS] injury,
Dr Silva
said. He hopes this core work will not only provide information on the
molecular dynamics of reactive gliosis, but will also be a tool for
other neuroscientists investigating different molecular neurobiology
questions.
The lab is using off-the-shelf quantum dot technology (from Quantum Dot
Corp.) to build data capture devices that are easy to use by
neuroscientists. We have developed a new protocol for tracking glial
activity, and we have [made sure] our approach could be easy for any
neuro-researcher to use, without needing any background in
nanotechnology,
Dr. Silva said.
Other research is looking at how quantum dots might spur growth of neuritis (immature neuron sprouts). “The approach basically adds bioactive molecules to the quantum dots, in a way to provide a medium that will encourage this growth in a directed way,” he said.
Nano-sciences might improve today’s drug therapies that follow CNS
injury. Drugs can have side-effects, are not easy to administer, and
can be very tricky to administer,
he said, adding that
nanotechnology could help neurosciences build a hybrid
molecule
that might more precisely target a CNS injury site.
The Roots of How Nano and Neuro Sciences Are Being Blended at UC – San Diego
Dr. Silva multi-disciplinary approach has its roots in his training as a
neuroscientist and his post doctoral work in at the lab of Professor
Samual Stupp at Northwestern University, focusing on the development of
bio active neural signal expressed from neual stem cells stimulated by
nanofibers.
Ultimately we’re nowhere near understanding all that neural cells do,
and nanotechnology techniques will help us move neurosciences forward
both in research and treatment,
Dr. Silva said. In a paper published
last year, he spelled out that vision:
In treating CNS disorders, there is the issue of getting the material, device, or drug to the site where it is needed in the CNS itself. As such, in order for nanotechnology applications directed toward neurological disorders to develop to their fullest potential, it will be important for neurosurgeons, neurologists, and neuroscientists to [all] participate.
With this goal in mind, Dr. Silva, in collaboration with the NSTI will organize a special symposium on Nanotech to Neuroscience technologies at the Nanotech 2006, Boston (http://www.nsti.org/Nanotech2006/). This event will be the first of its kind worldwide and will bring together researchers, clinicians and the participating biotech business community to address these new therapeutic opportunities.
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