Transplant Medicine gets a leg up: Immune rejection can be blocked using slow-release hydrogels - Polidicks

[url]http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/way-to-block-immune-rejection-after-transplant-surgery/article6313254.ece[/url] Abstract of the article in question: [quote]Currently, systemic immunosuppression is used in vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA). This treatment has considerable side effects and reduces the quality of life of VCA recipients. We loaded the immunosuppressive drug tacrolimus into a self-assembled hydrogel, which releases the drug in response to proteolytic enzymes that are overexpressed during inflammation. A one-time local injection of the tacrolimus-laden hydrogel significantly prolonged graft survival in a Brown Norway–to–Lewis rat hindlimb transplantation model, leading to a median graft survival of >100 days compared to 33.5 days in tacrolimus only–treated recipients. Control groups with no treatment or hydrogel only showed a graft survival of 11 days. Histopathological evaluation, including anti-graft antibodies and complement C3, revealed significantly reduced immune responses in the tacrolimus-hydrogel group compared with tacrolimus only. In conclusion, a single-dose local injection of an enzyme-responsive tacrolimus-hydrogel is capable of preventing VCA rejection for >100 days in a rat model and may offer a new approach for immunosuppression in VCA.[/quote] [quote]Individuals who have had transplant surgery need drugs that suppress their immune system and prevent it from turning on the new organ. Indian scientists have helped develop a gel that can hold and slowly release an immune-suppressing drug. The water-based gel, known as a 'hydrogel', put together by a team of scientists from the U.S., India and Switzerland has shown promising results in animal trials. The gel could allow transplant recipients ward off organ rejection with less frequent application, reducing the amount of immunosuppressant they receive and thereby limiting the drug's toxic side-effects. The research has just been published in Science Translational Medicine. Screening The scientists screened hundreds of substances in a list of agents 'generally recognised as safe' compiled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Triglycerol monostearate (TGM) was identified as suitable for making the hydrogel. This molecule, when appropriately processed in water, self-assembles into tiny fibres, which then clump to form bundles, said Praveen Kumar Vemula of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, one of the paper's corresponding authors. The processing was carried out in the presence of tacrolimus, a widely used immunosuppressant, so that the drug got encapsulated in the TGM bundles as the hydrogel formed.[/quote] It's promising since less doses of immune suppressants means less toxicity. It's not a miracle, but it's a start.

Neuropozyne huh

Not likely for a while though; they're primarily trying to find uses for solid organ transplantation.

One step closer to robo-limbs.

I don't know how it works, but hydrogel is a cool name for something.

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;45699043]I don't know how it works, but hydrogel is a cool name for something.[/QUOTE] A simple definition of a hydrogel is that it's basically a water-based gel, made by using polymer chains which attract water (hydrophilic polymers) where water acts as the dispersion medium.

I don't know who else I expected to post this article from the title.

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45699070]A simple definition of a hydrogel is that it's basically a water-based gel, made by using polymer chains which attract water (hydrophilic polymers) where water acts as the dispersion medium.[/QUOTE] Doctor I got this growth on my... Errr I mean thats sounds awesome.

that title is the most scientific-sounding thing i've read today

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45699070]A simple definition of a hydrogel is that it's basically science.[/QUOTE] Here's an even simpler definition.