re: negative charged film regenerates nerves, buckyballs versus free
radicals
These 2 short articles were published in the ezine "Natural Health
Education". References follow.
Please see my previous 2 posts on buckyballs and fullerenes in the
following newsgroups:
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/nordbiomed
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/frontiersciences

webposted 16.11.2001
Scott_Hill@...

The Nerve...

A report published in Aug. 19 in the PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL
ACADEMY OF SCIENCE suggests that
an oxidixed polypyrrole film carrying a negative charge could help
damaged
nerve cells grow back according to SCIENCE NEWS (Vol.152,No.8, 1997).
Rat
neurons spread on the polymer and bathed in nerve growth factor
reportedly
doubled in length and increased in number when an electrical stimulus
was applied.

Scientists can't explian why electricity helps neurons to elongate,
although
electricity appears to play a role in the growth of many tissues
including bone
and muscle. Get a jump on the scientists by reading THE BODY
ELECTRIC:
ELECTROMAGNETISM AND THE FOUNDATION OF LIFE by Robert Becker and Gary
Selden.

Buckyballs 1, Free Radicals 0...

Buckyballs -- 6--carbon spherical molecules, chemically modified to be
soluable in water by adding carboxylic acid groups cold prevent nerve
degeneration (SCIENCE NEWS Vol.152, No.8). A report published in the
Aug. 19
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE shows that
these modified molecules can protect nerves from free radical damage
after a
stroke or trauma. A single buckyball can reportedly mop up more than
30 free
radicals, whereas one molecule of Vitamin C neutralizes just one free
radical (shades
of Linus Pauling?). The location of the acid group on the carbon
molecule affects
it's ability to slip through the cell membrane to do it's mop up work.
One of
the biggest sources of free radicals in our bodies is the simple act
of breathing. Until
continued research turns these preliminary findings into real-life
therapies, mopping
up the free radicals one at a time through sound nutrition and
supplements may be
well worth considering!

re: references to buckyball article and nerve growth in Science News:
unfortunately, the article is no longer online. However, I was able to
access the
references for the article--Scott

Polymer, buckyballs combat nerve damage

Two materials, usually studied for their industrial applications, may
offer treatments for
nerve damage caused by injury, stroke, or disease.

References:

Dugan, L.L., et al. 1997. Carboxyfullerenes as neuroprotective
agents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
94(Aug. 19):9434.

Schmidt, C.E., V.R. Shastri, et al. 1997. Stimulation of neurite
outgrowth using an electrically conducting polymer.
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 94(Aug. 19):8948.

Further Readings:

1995. Teflon templates stimulate nerve growth. Science News
148(July 22):58.

Ezzell, C. 1992. Paving the way for spinal cord repair. Science
News 141(April 25):270.

Pennisi, E. 1994. Molecules that guide or nourish nerves. Science
News 145(March 12):165.

Sternberg, S. 1996. Steps toward healing damaged spines. Science
News 150(July 27):52.
http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arch/7_27_96/fob1.htm
Travis, J. 1996. Battling evolution to regrow nerves. Science
News 150(Sept. 21):180.
http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arch/9_21_96/fob1.htm
Weiss, R. 1990. Antibodies enhance spinal nerve regrowth. Science
News 137(Jan. 20):38.


re: abstract of Schmidt & Shastri's article:

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1997 Aug 19;94(17):8948-53

Stimulation of neurite outgrowth using an electrically conducting
polymer.

Schmidt CE, Shastri VR, Vacanti JP, Langer R.

Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Damage to peripheral nerves often cannot be repaired by the
juxtaposition of the severed nerve ends. Surgeons have typically
used autologous nerve grafts, which have several drawbacks including
the need for multiple surgical procedures and loss of
function at the donor site. As an alternative, the use of nerve
guidance channels to bridge the gap between severed nerve
ends is being explored. In thispaper, the electrically conductive
polymer--oxidized polypyrrole (PP)--has been evaluated for
use as a substrate to enhance nerve cell interactions in culture as a
first step toward potentially using such polymers to
stimulate in vivo nerve regeneration. Image analysis demonstrates that
PC-12 cells and primary chicken sciatic nerve explants
attached and extended neurites equally well on both PP films and
tissue culture polystyrene in the absence of electrical
stimulation. In contrast, PC-12 cells interacted poorly with indium
tin oxide (ITO), poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA), and
poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) surfaces.
However, PC-12 cells cultured on PP films and subjected to an
electrical stimulus through the film showed a significant
increase in neurite lengths compared with ones that were not subjected
to electrical stimulation through the film and tissue
culture polystyrene controls. The median neurite length for PC-12
cells grown on PP and subjected to an electrical stimulus
was 18.14 micron (n = 5643) compared with 9.5 micron (n = 4440) for
controls.
Furthermore, animal implantation studies reveal that PP invokes little
adverse tissue response compared with poly(lactic
acid-co-glycolic acid).

PMID: 9256415 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

related articles to Schmidt, et.al:

1:
Schmidt CE, Shastri VR, Vacanti JP, Langer R.
Stimulation of neurite outgrowth using an electrically conducting
polymer.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Aug 19;94(17):8948-53.
PMID: 9256415 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2:
Kotwal A, Schmidt CE.
Electrical stimulation alters protein adsorption and nerve cell
interactions with electrically conducting biomaterials.
Biomaterials. 2001 May;22(10):1055-64.
PMID: 11352099 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3:
Kimura K, Yanagida Y, Haruyama T, Kobatake E, Aizawa M.
Electrically induced neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells on the electrode
surface.
Med Biol Eng Comput. 1998 Jul;36(4):493-8.
PMID: 10198536 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4:
Jiang Y, Yuan CW, Li YH, Pu YP, Wu L.
[Investigation on the stimulation effect of polypyrrole film on rat
hepatic cells].
Sheng Wu Gong Cheng Xue Bao. 2000 Jul;16(4):521-4. Chinese.
PMID: 11051833 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

5:
Lankford KL, Waxman SG, Kocsis JD.
Mechanisms of enhancement of neurite regeneration in vitro following a
conditioning sciatic nerve lesion.
J Comp Neurol. 1998 Feb 2;391(1):11-29.
PMID: 9527536 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

6:
McCreery DB, Agnew WF, Yuen TG, Bullara LA.
Relationship between stimulus amplitude, stimulus frequency and neural
damage during electrical stimulation of sciatic nerve of cat.
Med Biol Eng Comput. 1995 May;33(3 Spec No):426-9.
PMID: 7666690 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]