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Nanoparticles as Antioxidants
(Friday July 17 2009)
 | The evidence to date suggests that antioxidants are only useful if specifically targeted - for example to the mitochondria, or to diseased cells. Here, RedOrbit looks at the prospects for targeted nanoparticles in the role of antioxidant: researchers have "engineered nanoparticles of cerium oxide (CeO2), a material long used in ceramics, catalysts, and fuel cells. The novel nanocrystalline form is non-toxic and biocompatible - ideal for medical applications. Since then, the researchers found that cerium oxide nanoparticles have two additional medical benefits: they behave like an antioxidant, protecting cells from oxidative stress, and they can be fine-tuned to potentially deliver medical treatments directly into cells. ... [Researchers] engineered special cerium oxide nanoparticles, which they call nanoceria, for tailored biomedical applications. ... the researchers used mice whose eyes have retinal defects similar to those found in patients with age-related macular degeneration. They treated some of the mice with nanoceria and then compared the number of lesions that occurred in their retinas. The researchers' results [indicate] that the nanoceria prevented about 85 percent of the damage to the retina." |
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