Tag Archives: Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation

Accelerated healing of the tissue in the blood-brain barrier with gelatin

It’s been a few years since my last brain and gelatin story (Dec. 24, 2014 posting: Gelatin nanoparticles for drug delivery after stroke) and this time they’re trying to make brain surgery easier and to reduce any attendant brain damage according to a Nov. 6, 2017 news item on ScienceDaily,

Researchers already know that gelatin-covered electrode implants cause less damage to brain tissue than electrodes with no gelatin coating. Researchers at the Neuronano Research Centre (NRC) at Lund University in Sweden have now shown that microglia, the brain’s cleansing cells, and the enzymes that the cells use in the cleaning process, change in the presence of gelatin.

“Knowledge about the beneficial effects of gelatin could be significant for brain surgery, but also in the development of brain implants,” say the researchers behind the study.

Our brains are surrounded by a blood brain barrier which protects the brain from harmful substances that could enter it via the bloodstream. When the barrier is penetrated, as in the case of biopsy or brain surgery for example, leaks can occur and cause serious inflammation. Researchers at the NRC have previously shown that gelatin accelerates brain tissue healing and reduces damage to nerve cells in the case of electrode implants, but only now are they starting to understand how.

A November 6, 2017 Lund University press release, which originated the news item, provides more details,

The researchers used sedated rats to investigate how the brain is repaired after an injury. Gelatin-coated needles were used in one group, and needles without gelatin in the other.

“The use of gelatin-coated needles reduced or eliminated the leakage of molecules (which normally don’t get through) through the blood brain barrier within twenty-four hours. Without gelatin, the leakage continued for up to three days”, says Lucas Kumosa, one of the researchers behind the study, which was recently published in the research journal Acta Biomaterialia.

Gelatin

The images in the left-hand column show the healing of an injury caused by a stainless steel needle. The images in the right-hand column show what the process looked like when the researchers used a gelatin-coated needle. Gelatin accelerated the healing process and reduced the leakage of blood-borne molecules capable of passing through the blood brain barrier into the brain and causing inflammation.

FEWER INFLAMMATORY CLEANING CELLS

When there is an injury to the brain, microglial cells – the brain’s cleaning cells – gather at the site. They clean up, but can also damage the nerve cell tissue through enzymes they release. In their study, the researchers observed a change in which cleaning cells moved towards the injury site.

“When we used gelatin, we saw only a small number of the inflammatory microglial cells. Instead, we observed cells of a different kind, that are anti-inflammatory, which we believe could be significant in accelerating healing”, explains Lucas Kumosa.

The hypothesis is that the potentially damaging enzymes are occupied with the gelatin instead.

“Gelatin is a protein and its decomposition releases amino-acids that we believe could promote the reconstruction of blood vessels and tissue”, explains Jens Schouenborg, professor of neurophysiology at Lund University.

SURGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Research is currently underway on how electrodes implanted in the brain could be used in the treatment of various diseases, such as epilepsy or Parkinson’s. A major challenge has been to find ways of reducing damage to the area when using such implants.

“Although the research field of brain electrodes is promising, it has been a challenge to find solutions that don’t damage the brain tissue. Knowledge of how injuries heal faster with gelatin could therefore be significant for the development of surgical treatment as well,” says Jens Schouenborg.

The research is funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, Lund University and the Sven-Olof Jansons livsverk Foundation.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Gelatin promotes rapid restoration of the blood brain barrier after acute brain injury by Lucas S. Kumosa, Valdemar Zetterberg, Jens Schouenborg. Acta Biomaterialia https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2017.10.020 Available online 14 October 2017

This paper is open access.

Graphene: scientific rock star? Sweden, and FET

Well, some think graphene is a scientific rock star according to the Nov. 9, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

Graphene is sort of a scientific rock star, with countless groups studying its amazing electrical properties and tensile strength and dreaming up applications ranging from flat-panel screens to elevators in space.

That’s what a research group (Craighead Research Group) at Cornell University is saying about graphene in its article, “Fabrication and performance of graphene nanoelectromechanical systems” published n the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, 2011, vol. 29 (5).

There’s no question that graphene is a sizzling topic these days and much money is being flung in that direction for research. The Nov. 8, 2011 news item on Nanowerk features a major chunk of funding (which may also have an impact on a huge European Union funding project next year) for a graphene research group in Sweden,

Graphene can enable the best quantum resistance standard. This is one of many advances emerging from the active research into graphene at Chalmers University of Technology. Chalmers will now receive the lion’s share of a new Swedish research grant of SEK 40 million [approximately $6M CAD] for the supermaterial graphene.

Following the new financing from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, a group of some 30 Swedish graphene researchers will be formed, in a close collaboration between Chalmers and the universities of Uppsala and Linköping. The effort will form the Swedish spearhead in international graphene research – a hot topic ever since the Nobel Physics Prize in 2010.

The Chalmers researchers have already achieved several important breakthroughs with graphene, despite the fact that the material was first produced as recently as 2004. One example is a new standard for the quantum of resistance – a “tuning fork” for calibrating the correct resistance in electrical instruments and devices. State-of-the-art resistance standards are based on silicon or gallium arsenide. These are difficult to manufacture, and the method only works at extremely low temperatures and in large magnetic fields. A new generation of resistance standards based on graphene are at least as accurate as those in use today, while benefitting from being substantially easier to produce and use.

In another project, Chalmers researchers have produced a graphene transistor that operates at more than 10 gigahertz. They are now working on producing one capable of reaching into the terahertz range – in other words faster than 100 gigahertz. This may become possible thanks to a large grant that Mikael Fogelström’s research group received earlier this year from the Foundation for Strategic Research – SEK 28.5 million over a five-year period.

The Future and Emerging Technologies in information technology (Fet 11) is the name for the European Union’s 2011 Pathfinder programme, which will be awarding $1B Euros in mid-2012, and which was mentioned in my June 13, 2011 posting about graphene. Here’s an excerpt from that posting,

Bringing together multiple disciplines and addressing research across a whole range of issues, from fundamental understandings of material properties to Graphene production, the Flagship will provide the platform for establishing European scientific and technological leadership in the application of Graphene to Information and Communication Technologies. The proposed research includes coverage of electronics, spintronics, photonics, plasmonics and mechanics, all based on Graphene.

[Project Team:]

Andrea Ferrari, Cambridge University, UK
Jari Kinaret, Chalmers University, Sweden
Vladimir Falko, Lancaster University, UK
Jani Kivioja, NOKIA, Finland [emphasis mine]

2011 has been quite the year for these researchers at Chalmers since they were one of six research groups getting funds to produce more work in preparation for a final round of considerations before deciding which two groups would be receiving $1B Euro each in 2012.

I gather from the news item on Nanowerk, this latest funding will aid in next year’s big decision,

Chalmers has previously gathered together European graphene researchers for a major research initiative competing for what is known as “Future Emerging Technology Flagship” funds, providing finance of up to SEK 10 billion over 10 years. Next year, the EU will decide whether to convert the pilot project into a flagship. The new research grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation is believed to increase the chances of that happening.