This is wonderful, and go Northwestern! But all that jazz aside what stops the molecules from moving when the tissue reaches its peak state? A collapse due to a depletion of one of its parts!? Also I am not a biologist/chemist, but if someone could put some input in here that’d be great. Is it that the molecules act as “invaders” and signal the body itself where to hyper-focus healing? But that there’s the added bonus of holding a necessary chemical needed to repair tissue/bones. In turn the amount injected would denote the lifespan of the molecules. Because you’d inject the amount necessary to repair x-damage? Not sure, but just kind of how I figured it would work.
The dancing molecules lead to gene expression which then starts regenerating the cartilage. They are basically an on switch for the repair. This is massive as it could prevent cardiac arrest from occurring down the road. When cardiac arrest takes place, the chances of it happening again drastically increase due to an alternation of the immune cells made in the heart.
For my fellow nerds, cardiac arrest leads to Th2 immune cell production in the heart instead of Th1, and Th2 is great against parasites, but that’s not very helpful at keeping the heart safe. Th2 is also involved in most allergies, which isn’t ideal here either. Meaning, by turning on repair genes in the heart before things get more out of line, it will decrease the chances of cardiac arrest, which has numerous benefits immediately as well as down the road.
Like most biological reactions, tissue repair is regulated in a feedback loop. So the dancing molecules get the process started, and once complete the body then stops, as this allows for energy conservation.
Ah, thank you - this is the juicy stuff I love. As I know absolutely nothing, but love reading about this stuff. I figured, due to the speed at which something like this could be administered it could be utilized by first responders and save a slew of lives.
In the article it notes that there is an essential protein (I believe it was a collagen) infused into the molecules, which I had just assumed was to be utilized in the healing process. In my head, I just couldn’t conceive of another way that would stop a vibrating external “antagonist” (is it an antagonist? I am not sure what else to classify it as) - from continuing it’s process outside of just general degradation. I didn’t imagine the body could just choose when to stop being stimulated. Also am interested in the day to day production of Th2, and if individuals with heart disease tend to have lower production of it as a whole. Just don’t know. I’ve got to read more on heart disease and the cardiovascular system as a whole. It’s been a pretty hands-off thing for me.
Ya, feedback loops are everywhere in the body. It’s basically the default for any reaction involving enzymes, which is most of them. But since heart attacks are a clogging of the passage and only result in tissue damage, I could only see this being used afterwards. But with spinal injuries, it maybe a different story.
I’d bet the collagen is there to ensure it’s well received in the heart. As collagen is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix of a body’s various connective tissues. It could also be a guide to ensure it goes to the right location.
Well, it’s definitely not an antagonist, it’s more the activator of healing if anything. When used for spinal cords, it was “injected as a liquid, the therapy immediately gels into a complex network of nanofibers that mimic the extracellular matrix of the spinal cord. By matching the matrix’s structure, mimicking the motion of biological molecules and incorporating signals for receptors, the synthetic materials are able to communicate with cells.” So the motion is just used to active the tissue repair process.
When it comes to immune cells, Th2 is only found as the primary immune pathway in the heart after cardiac arrest. Beforehand it’s mainly Th1, which is ideal to eliminate forien bacteria as well as viruses. Th2 is primarily for parasite defense, while also resulting in allergies and the regeneration of mucus. This is a contributing factor in being more likely to have a 2nd cardiac arrest after the 1st.
Th2 vs Th1 is a complex relationship, and it’s primarily formed earlier in life. This is why some folks in the 70s used tape worms to cure aliments. It shifted the Th1 response to Th2, providing some relief, yet you had a tape worm in you…