Scientists Make Mice Immune to Radiation

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hanelyp
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Scientists Make Mice Immune to Radiation

Post by hanelyp »

http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/10571/
In a study published in the new AAAS journal Science Translational Medicine (see video below), researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Cancer Institute found that they could protect healthy cells from radiation injury by turning off an inhibitory pathway that regulates nitric oxide.
Fascinating development. I wonder what the side effects are.

ladajo
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Post by ladajo »

Apparently the chief side effect is that these mice are rockstar drag racers.

Scupperer
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Post by Scupperer »

ladajo wrote:Apparently the chief side effect is that these mice are rockstar drag racers.
This forum needs a "like" button.
Perrin Ehlinger

D Tibbets
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Post by D Tibbets »

Some general comments. While some mild protective effects may decrease 'normal' cells acute damage and cell death and thereby change the dosing/ side effects of radiation treatments and exposure, the hyperboly is extreme.
And increasing nitric oxide is not risk free.
Perhaps I am speaking from ignorance as I have not read the actual article. But it looks like they are essentially measuring acute cell death. Within limits this may be usefull (especially for local radiation treatment of tumors).
But, intentional cell death is one of the primary defenses against cancer. Through various interactions, the cell recognizes whan it has been damaged to much and it commits suicide. If this inhibits this process you may be trading acute benefits for disproportionate increases in cancer deaths 5-10 years out.
In palliative treatments of otherwise untreatable cancers, you might not be producing cures, but you might buy the patient a few months or years, and do so without increasing side effects. This would be desirable in itself.

The only way I have heard of to decrease the damage done to cells by ionizing radiation is through the use of strong antioxidants. Theoretically this may help some, though I have not seen any practical tests. Perhaps the best antioxidant in this regard would be carbon monoxide. If you inhale enough to get a tremendous headache, but not enough to drop dead, you may have some protection.

PS: Nitrous oxide is not an antioxidant, it is an oxidizer- that is why it is used in rocket fuel. It does not protect the cells, but interferes with cascading effects that leads to cell death, and as mentioned above that is not necessarily good.

Dan Tibbets
To error is human... and I'm very human.

hanelyp
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Post by hanelyp »

...you may be trading acute benefits for disproportionate increases in cancer deaths 5-10 years out.
That sounds like a plausible serious side effect.

Don't confuse nitrous oxide and nitric oxide. They aren't the same chemical.

ladajo
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Post by ladajo »

Doood,
Don't lose your sense of humor while looking for rationality.

TallDave
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Post by TallDave »

Perhaps the best antioxidant in this regard would be carbon monoxide.
Does CO actually neutralize free radicals? I thought it was more of a signaller.
n*kBolt*Te = B**2/(2*mu0) and B^.25 loss scaling? Or not so much? Hopefully we'll know soon...

Axil
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Post by Axil »

Fascinating development. I wonder what the side effects are.
The mechanism of action of sildenafil (aka "Viagra") involves the protection of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) from degradation by cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) in the corpus cavernosum. Nitric oxide (NO) in the corpus cavernosum of the penis binds to guanylate cyclase receptors, which results in increased levels of cGMP, leading to smooth muscle relaxation (vasodilation) of the intimal cushions of the helicine arteries. This smooth muscle relaxation leads to vasodilation and increased inflow of blood into the spongy tissue of the penis, causing an erection. Robert F. Furchgott, Ferid Murad and Louis Ignarro won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998 for their independent study of the metabolic pathway of nitric oxide in smooth muscle vasodilation.

Increased inflow of blood into the spongy tissue of the penis, causing an erection will be either depressed or greatly increased, either way you may loss control of an import function of the body; not good.

D Tibbets
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Post by D Tibbets »

hanelyp wrote:
...you may be trading acute benefits for disproportionate increases in cancer deaths 5-10 years out.
That sounds like a plausible serious side effect.

Don't confuse nitrous oxide and nitric oxide. They aren't the same chemical.
Nitrous oxide and nitric acid are different, but both can be used as an oxidizer in a rocket. Nitrous oxide was used by Space Ship One.

Dan Tibbets
To error is human... and I'm very human.

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