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Dye Used In Blue M&Ms Can Lessen Spinal Injury

SydShamino writes "Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that the dye used in blue M&Ms and other foods can, when given intravenously to a lab rat shortly after a spinal injury, minimize secondary damage caused by the body when it kills off nearby healthy cells. The dye is called BBG or Brilliant Blue G. Given that 85% of spinal injury patients are currently untreated (and some doctors don't trust the treatment given to the other 15%), a relatively safe treatment like this could help preserve some function for thousands of patients. The best part is that in lab rats the subjects given the treatment turn blue." The researchers are "pulling together an application to be lodged with the FDA to stage the first clinical trials of BBG on human patients."

21 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. Sound Methods? by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    "... so every year we have a bring-your-child-to-work day where we inject some M&M dye into the lab rats and let the kids play with them. And Gunderson's kid has this nasty tendency to just baseball them into the wall and, well, we noticed the blue colored mice were recovering much better from the wall impact injuries ..."

    Seriously though is there like a lab out there giving rats spinal injuries and jacking them full of chemicals? Cause if there is, I've got my resume handy!

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    1. Re:Sound Methods? by KDR_11k · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, that's my dinner!

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    2. Re:Sound Methods? by maxume · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ah, the one in Toledo.

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    3. Re:Sound Methods? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I got into a discussion with a friend about lab rats once. She was appalled by the things being done to the poor little fellas. She implied that one day the evil scientists would get what was coming to them. I asked her why? Because of karma? When she said yes I told her google the Black Death. The little fuckers deserve it. :)

    4. Re:Sound Methods? by LeoPercepied · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't feel bad, lab mice are just using us to find the question to Life the Universe and everything.

  2. And all this time... by jbarr · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...I've been focusing on the green ones!

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    1. Re:And all this time... by TinBromide · · Score: 4, Funny

      But have you been injecting them intravenously?

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    2. Re:And all this time... by SnarfQuest · · Score: 4, Funny

      I tried, but couldn't get them to squeeze out the little needle. Tried using a caulking gun, but that was just extremely painful.
      Turned out as badly as when I tried snorting coke. The bubbles just about killed me.

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  3. Blue pill by maxwell+demon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't take the red pill. Take the blue pill. It's better for your spine.

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    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  4. Blue Rat Group by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The best part is that in lab rats the subjects given the treatment turn blue.

    Do they also start taking part in voiceless percussion stage performances?

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  5. Re:So eating M&M by NFN_NLN · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can be considered healty now?

    At least if you have a spinal injury or possibly other type of nerve damage?

    Or will you have to eat a truckload of M&M before there is any effect?

    Depends, if you can eat blue smarties INTRAVENOUSLY they might be helpful. I would work up to it by taking them in suppository form first.

  6. Random! by EEBaum · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sure there are sound methods involved in this, but it sounds kinda like some lab techs have two dartboards, one labeled "thing to do to mouse" and another labeled "thing to inject into mouse to see if it gets better" and are playing a drinking game.

    "Well, the Tide With Color-Safe Bleach injection didn't fix Squeaky's 'beetus. Your turn, Roy!"

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  7. Re:Blue Eyes? Blue Vision? by jeffasselin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do rats with blue eyes pray to earthworms?

    I wouldn't mind being a Fremen myself...

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  8. Re:Blue Eyes? Blue Vision? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did he possibly play blues?

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  9. Re:Mobsters, the new clinical trialists. by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Funny

    Seems to me we should be contracting out mobsters as researchers. Because they also just 'happen' to find people who suffer spinal cord injuries.

    That's a good idea. They'd probably do it for free, too, because if there's one thing mobsters hate, it's a rat.

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  10. Re:How about yellow? by vlm · · Score: 3, Funny

    No need, there are lots of naturally occuring yellow foods. Some tomatos, some potatos, squash, egg yolk, corn...

    Yellow snow... no, wait, scratch that off the list.

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  11. Re:Blue Eyes? Blue Vision? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The spice must flow!?

  12. Re:there's more to science then just hurting anima by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny
  13. Smurf by mwvdlee · · Score: 2, Funny

    This articles begs to be tagged "smurf".
    I mean, healing people with blue dye...

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  14. So conflicted by symbolset · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are these humans lawyers, music industry executives, or Microsoft programmers? Context is key.

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  15. The Blue Man Group... by macraig · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... will be filing a lawsuit shortly to block this attempted copyright infringement.