Long-Lasting Enzyme Chews Up Cocaine

MTorrice (2611475) writes "Despite cocaine's undeniable destructiveness, there are no antidotes for overdoses or medications to fight addiction that directly neutralize cocaine's powerful effects. A natural bacterial enzyme, cocaine esterase, could help by chopping up cocaine in the bloodstream. But the enzyme is unstable in the body, losing activity too quickly to be a viable treatment. Now, using computational design, researchers tweaked the enzyme (full paper, PDF) to simultaneously increase stability and catalytic efficiency. Mice injected with the engineered enzyme survive daily lethal doses of cocaine for an average of 94 hours."

Comments

Hmmm ....

[gstoddart]

there are no antidotes for overdoses or medications to fight addiction that directly neutralize cocaine's powerful effects

And, this will do nothing at all to fight additiction.

You'll still be addicted, only the cocaine doesn't do anything. So you'll take more of it. Then you may die.

Me, I think they should put it into the water on Capitol Hill and on Wall Street, and see how many people start going through withdrawal symptoms. The ones which start going squirrely for no good reason are probably the hypocrites doing lines off their secretary's cleavage. ;-)

Re:Hmmm ....

[gstoddart]

I don't have a secretary you insensitive clod. ;-)

And, no, I have no interest whatsoever in trying cocaine.

However, I will concede to the more generalized 'motorboating'. :-P

Re:Daily lethal doses

[gstoddart]

They're a special breed of mouse, called the Charlie Sheen mouse. They inject them with tiger blood.

'Cuz that's how they roll, banging 7 gram rocks. ;-)

checks google, yes, banging rocks, that's what he said.