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New Treatment Helps Cure Spinal Injuries
wap writes "Researchers have found that an injection of polyethylene glycol (PEG) into the site of neural injury was very effective in saving neurons in dogs, allowing them to recover their movement after the injury. This is an amazing development. PEG is a simple, safe chemical. Using it as a post-injury treatment could prevent paralysis in thousands of accident victims every year, if hospitals start using it. This doesn't mean we don't need stem cell research, but it is a simple and potentially cheap way to get many of the benefits for spinal injury."
For those that want a link.
If you google it it comes up with numerous references to it being used in cosmetics and cleansers, is make-up hazardous? It's probably safe
PEG is already used in a number of treatments as "PEGylation". PEGylation, or the addition of the polyethylene glycol group, to interferons are already being tried as therapy for Hepatitis C. The advantage lies in the ability of the pegylated compound to resist excretion in the kidneys and to increase solubility.
Well, in all fairness, there is a reason for that, to a degree. Medical stuff has to be very, very, very sanitary.
TODO: Something witty here...
It is also used in stage smoke machines.
Don't let yourself be confused. Its not "medical grade antifreeze." That, and stuff you inject into yourself damn well should have higher standards than antifreeze for your car.
I think that you're thinking of propylene glycol, commonly used in de-icing/antifreeze fluids.
Material Safety Data Sheet
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
PEG is used to alter a solutions viscosity in lab. By itself it has no detrimental effect on cells I'm aware of, which is why it's used for that purpose.
Everyone who's considering using DMSO thing should get a book on the topic, 'cause it's possible to do some stupid stuff. I know a guy who soaked a cotton pad in DMSO and put it on his foot with an ace bandage. His nerves were firing painfully for days... :).
True enough. DMSO was originally used as an engine degreaser. It's a pretty powerful chemical solvent. Now, a lot of people are rubbing it all over themselves because they saw Dr. Weil chuckling on TV about how it's some kind of miracle cure. Read up on it before doing anything. If you decide you want to try it, you'll probably have to go to a horse-supply store to get some. Or the local automotive store.
A bit of googling turned up the following:
DMSO
William T. Jarvis, Ph.D.
DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is derived from lignin, the binding substance of trees. The Crown Zellerbach Corporation, a mammoth lumber company, holds a number of patents on DMSO for use as an industrial solvent or liniment for treating pain in horses. Crown Zellerbach licenses DMSO exclusively to Research Industries of Salt Lake City for marketing as a drug called Rimso-50. Topically-applied DMSO has the unusual ability to act as a "chemical hypodermic needle" which is to say that it is rapidly absorbed through the skin and can take with it other substances that ordinarily would not cross the skin's barrier. Topically-applied DMSO produces a garlic-like taste in the mouth and a breath odor. Topical use can cause a rash, blistering, itching, hives, and skin thickening. Intravenous use can cause kidney damage and other adverse side effects.
DMSO was approved by the FDA in 1978 for only one purpose, the treatment of a rare bladder disorder, interstitial cystitis. However, scandal surrounded the FDA's approval of DMSO and some still believe that a cloud hangs over it. Stanley Jacob, MD, served as an supposedly unbiased medical monitor of DMSO between 1974 and 1979, but for three of those years (1974, 1978, and 1979), he was on the Research Industries board of directors. In addition to getting consulting and director's fees, Jacob is said to have bought 50,000 shares of the company's stocks. The medical officer charged with reviewing data from clinical trials of DMSO, K.C. Pani, accepted $36,500 in gratuities from Dr. Jacob during the time. A detailed account of the dubious FDA approval of DMSO is provided by Howard Rosenberg in "The DMSO Affair." [1 ]
DMSO became a darling among the promoters of quackery after CBS-TV's 60 Minutes portrayed the substance as a medical breakthrough [2]. Some arthritis sufferers testified that DMSO had provided relief. The Arthritis Foundation says that DMSO can act as a liniment with a counter-irritating effect temporarily relieving pain, but it does not reduce inflammation as do truly effective arthritis remedies (Arthritis Foundation, undated). A detailed Public Information Memo was issued to the Chapter Executive Directors of the Arthritis Foundation on November 13, 1981, following the publication of a popular trade book.
Mildred Miller, owner/administrator of the Degenerative Disease Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, promoted DMSO for a variety of disorders including arthritis, mental illness, emphysema, and cancer. Miller wrote a book touting DMSO entitled A Little Dab Will Do Ya! (Quality Advertising, 1981). Miller also published Preventive Health News, a tabloid-sized newsletter in which she promoted DMSO and carried on a harangue against the establishment (Miller published another book with the disrespectful title Up Yours FDA). Miller was eventually convicted of Medicare fraud and went to prison [2]. The American Cancer Society issued a statement advising against the use of DMSO for cancer [3].
During its heyday, black market DMSO could be purchased in health food stores, military surplus stores, hardware stores, at swap meet booths, or even from vendors working out of the trunks of their cars parked along highways. Very often black market DMSO is industrial grade, not medical grade. A problem with industrial grade DMSO is that companies bottling the substance as an industrial solvent use the same equipment to bottle other substances. Residual toxic materials can contaminate industrial grade DMSO and may be taken into the body by DMSO's action as a "chemical hypodermic."
Because of DMSO's dangers and legal status, the FDA has had a running battle with DMSO distributors. In 1980, the agency discussed the controversy surrounding the drug in the FDA Consumer [4]. In 1982, the agency reported on actions taken against companies distributing DMSO in the Pacific Northwest [5]. A book touting DMSO, The Persecuted Drug: The Story of DMSO, by Pat McGrady became the
As a veterinary technician, I can attest to DMSO's anti-inflammatory properties. We use it frequently in dogs to reduce swelling and sclerosis at injection sites in dogs undergoing chemotherapy and in dogs and horses to treat shock. While DMSO is commonly used in veterinary medicine, it is not frequently if at all labeled for such use. Most containers of DMSO explicitly say "For solvent use only." We have to warn owners that studies indicate that DMSO has anti-inflammatory properties, but we are in NO WAY responsible for anything bad that might happen.
Also, whenever we use DMSO as a rub or an injection, we triple glove. Like other posters have said, it is readily absorbed through skin. Within about 20 seconds of skin contact a distinct garlic or oyster taste develops and last several hours. The isolation unit at our hospital assumes a rather distinct an unpleasant odor when we have to place a dog on a DMSO IV drip. The fact that it is self-sterilizing in concentrations above 90% is also a bit worrisome to some.
While DMSO has some very real and effective uses in animals, human use is a whole other matter entirely. It would be very interesting to see DMSO undergo testing and its efficacy, as well as side effects, especially long term.
Actually, we do have federal funding for embryonic, but limited to existing stem cell lines. Privately funded research can do whatever the hell it wants, and otherwise smart scientists bitch about Bush banning the research.
Here is the abstract of the article:
Lavert, PH et al. A Preliminary Study of Intravenous Surfactants in Paraplegic Dogs: Polymer Therapy in Canine Clinical SCI. Journal of Neurotrauma. December 2004, Vol. 21, No. 12, Pages 1767-1777
Hydrophilic polymers, both surfactants and triblock polymers, are known to seal defects in cell membranes. In previous experiments using laboratory animals, we have exploited this capability using polyethylene glycol (PEG) to repair spinal axons after severe, standardized spinal cord injury (SCI) in guinea pigs. Similar studies were conducted using a related co-polymer Poloxamer 188 (P 188). Here we carried out initial investigations of an intravenous application of PEG or P 188 (3500 Daltons, 30% w/w in saline; 2 mL/kg I.V. and 2 mL/kg body weight or 300 mL P 188 per kg, respectively) to neurologically complete cases of paraplegia in dogs. Our aim was to first determine if this is a clinically safe procedure in cases of severe naturally occurring SCI in dogs. Secondarily, we wanted to obtain preliminary evidence if this therapy could be of clinical benefit when compared to a larger number of similar, but historical, control cases. Strict entry criteria permitted recruitment of only neurologically complete paraplegic dogs into this study. Animals were treated by a combination of conventional and experimental techniques within 72 h of admission for spinal trauma secondary to acute, explosive disk herniation. Outcome measures consisted of measurements of voluntary ambulation, deep and superficial pain perception, conscious proprioception in hindlimbs, and evoked potentials (somatosensory evoked potentials [SSEP]). We determined that polymer injection is a safe adjunct to the conventional management of severe neurological injury in dogs. We did not observe any unacceptable clinical response to polymer injection; there were no deaths, nor any other problem arising from, or associated with, the procedures. Outcome measures over the 68-week trial were improved by polymer injection when compared to historical cases. This recovery was unexpectedly rapid compared to these comparator groups. The results of this pilot trial provides evidence consistent with the notion that the injection of inorganic polymers in acute neurotrauma may be a simple and useful intervention during the acute phase of the injury.
Eponymous Mallard. "It it quacks like a duck, it may be the Eponymous Mallard."
As they say, the dose makes the poison. Apparently they've got a working concentration of PEG that can be IV injected that is sufficiently low to not harm healthy tissues--the effect is confined to the location of spinal trauma.
Actually, I'd strongly recommend looking at the linked article. As with making hybridomas, the scientists here are deliberately fusing cells together. In this case, the idea is that even if a cell is fatally damaged, fusing it to an adjacent healthy nerve cell can allow it to survive.
Apparently, the PEG also mucks with signalling so that the death of a few cells doesn't lead to apoptosis (cell death) in nearby structures. That's a great bonus. Altogether a very neat result. I'm kind of surprised that this works, actually--I would have expected a lot of fusions between axons and Schwann cells, or something equally useless...very interesting.
~Idarubicin
Super glue=cyanoacrylate, which is hard when it dries. It was invented as an adhesive for the eardrum. for which it is a poor choice. The "hospital grade liquid bandage" is 2-octyl cyanoacrylate, which is flexible when it dries. It costs ~$40 per tube.
This isn't a strawman, it's more like a straw-giant. No one has EVER proposed "harvesting fetuses" for their stem cells. What HAS been proposed is taking stem cells from discarded embryos at the blastocyst stage, left over from in vitro fertilizations, that will NEVER be implanted. These embryos are doomed anyway, so there's no point in denying society of the research benefits involved in using them.
Sean
They're not injecting antifreeze, they're injecting a food additive. Ethylene glycol is antifreeze. Polyethylene glycol is what makes your Mountain Dew syrupy.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
The reason the hospital grade is so expensive is often things like testing, purity, and sterilization. Something clean enough to hold in your hand is not necessarily clean enough to embed in the glued together bone or skin tissue of someone with a suppressed immune system due to illness.
And the hospital grade costs about $20/tube, with a fancy applicator designed to put it on thinly, last I looked on a hospital bill.
That is false.
First of all -- tangentially -- 'salt' is not chlorine and sodium. There are many different types of salt, including CaCl2 (used often on sidewalks and roads because it dissolves to three ions as opposed to the two of NaCl which lowers the freezing point even more, thus being more effective in de-icing).
Secondly, NaCl (standard table salt in the United States) is not composed of two 'chemicals'. Its molecular composition is that of two elements. I realize the distinction is minor but you are either misled or purposely trying to mislead by this single word 'chemical' which just *happens* to be how PEG is described. Na+ and Cl- are not chemicals. They are ions. Na+ would need to lose its positive charge to become a molecule, and Cl- would need to pair with another Cl atom before it could become Chlorine (yay for shared electrons). Cl- is not Chlorine, it is Chloride.
This is very important, because when a *chemical* is safe or unsafe, it does not usually stop being safe or unsafe unless its molecular composition is changed. Your example was talking about a molecular change. I doubt this is what happens in make-up. I find it inconceivable that making cosmetics requires a series of chemical reactions complex enough to render a harmful drug safe; you would have to have near 100% dissociation of the deadly compound, and near 100% reassociation with different atoms. A chemical is dangerous because it reacts in our body; if you have enough undissociated molecules, they will still dissolve and react, and if you have enough dissociated ions, they will still react. To make something like this safe would be very very difficult. So I would have to guess that it's just as safe as an injection as it is in make-up.