internal organs Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Artificial Veins Could Boost Success of Organ Transplants

The AHA! Team — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 08:24:03 +0000

Zachy Hennessey via Israel21c – Bonus Biogroup has developed microscopic biodegradable tubes that run through an engineered transplant organ, supplying a steady flow of blood. Globally, there is a persistent shortage of viable organs for transplantation. This unmet need has spurred the development of “engineered organs” — cultivated tissue that mimics the structure and function of livers, hearts, lungs and other vital viscera. While these in-vitro inside parts can be used to fill the gap in organ supply, it’s really hard to supply blood throughout the newly transplanted tissue. To solve this problem, Bonus Biogroup, an Israeli biotechnology company specializing in next-generation tissue regeneration therapies, has developed a method of producing a sophisticated network of artificial blood vessels that will enable reliable blood flow to transplanted artificial organs, drastically increasing their viability. Tomer Bronshtein, VP of Business Development at Bonus Biogroup, elaborates on the issue it aims to resolve. “One of the biggest challenges in implementing engineered tissue is making sure that it is vascularized. If it isn’t, only the periphery of the tissue which is exposed to blood vessels will be nourished,” he tells ISRAEL21c. “Now, the body knows how to build blood vessels into new tissue, but this process takes time. After two or three days, if the new tissue is deprived of nutrients, these cells will die,” he says. “Even if the immune matching is superb — even if you could take it from your twin brother — if it’s not vascularized, it will not work.” You’re so vein Enter the Haifa-based company’s latest product: a network of microscopic biodegradable tubes that run throughout an engineered organ, acting as a “scaffold” that holds the cultivated cells together while supplying a steady flow of blood throughout the transplanted tissue. Thanks to its biodegradable qualities, the scaffold ensures the newly embedded organ gets a steady flow of blood until the body replaces the artificial veins with the real deal, at which point it decays and makes its way out of the system. The blood vessels are created through a process called “electrospinning,” which Bronshtein compares to the process of making cotton candy. “There you have sugar that is making fibers because of heat. In electrospinning, you have biomaterials that are making fibers as a result of an electric current,” he says. The cultivated vessels can be spun to customizable diameters ranging from single microns to tens of microns. The artificial bundle of veins hooks up to the body’s blood supply via a port bundled at one end, spreads throughout the transplanted organ, and comes together at the other end into another port hooked up to the body. Picture an apartment building that has one water main which then splits into pipes that run through every floor of the building, and then they all meet back up again to head into the sewer system. Bonus Biogroup made that plumbing system, but for in-vitro organs. Enough to grow around As of 2022, the engineered tissues market was valued at approximately $12 billion and is projected to grow at an annual rate of about 11%, reaching $33 billion by 2032. Bonus Biogroup is banking on its innovation helping this market reach even greater potential. The company’s bone grafting product, BonoFill, stands to serve around 6.2 million patients in the US alone. By utilizing accessible and cost-effective methods, the company can streamline production processes and make its technology more widely accessible, while maintaining its competitive edge through patent protection. The publicly-traded company, which employs 53 people, has obtained patent approvals in 17 European countries and England, safeguarding Bonus Therapeutics, its wholly-owned subsidiary, until 2036. To date, the company has raised $60 million, and it stands to serve around 6.2 million patients in the US alone with its bone grafting product, BonoFill. With that in mind, Bonus intends to grant access to its technology to anyone who wants to use it — so long as they go through the proper legal channels. “This technology is something that we have no intention to keep to ourselves. Once we have established the global patent coverage on this technology, we are able to extend its use to other potential users,” says Bronshtein. While the company is using its vascular network primarily for its prior products — engineered bone and soft tissue for transplantation — it could be used for other needs as well. “Our goal is to make it the first available choice to patients in any indication,” notes CEO Shai Meretzki. “We know that there are groups in the world trying to do what we’ve done and failing to do it. And we are willing to allow them to use the technology developed by us within their products.” “It’s like how only one company developed the Intel chip, but you can find that chip in many devices. It’s the same concept here. You can put our blood network inside a liver or kidney or pancreas or any other tissue. Because the market is so wide, we are willing to share it,” Meretzki says. “When we founded Bonus, we were looking for a real change. Our goal from scratch was to create blockbuster products that will treat millions in each indication. And I believe that’s exactly what we are doing.” To read the original article click here.

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THIS Fruit Is One of the World’s Best Sources of Vitamin C

AHA Publisher — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 07:00:31 +0000

Sara Middleton via NaturalHealth365 – Vitamin C is known as a powerful antioxidant and immune system supporter. While it’s found naturally in many foods, vitamin C is also a wonderful nutritional supplement – known to help people improve their health. In fact, one 2014 study cited by the National Institutes of Health found that giving vitamin C greatly improved the health of internal organs damaged by poor lifestyle habits. But it’s not your morning glass of orange juice that will be the “best way” to get your daily recommended amount of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). In fact, this unassuming tropical berry is gaining ground recently as an antioxidant powerhouse. This Amazonian Berry Is One of the World’s Greatest Sources of Vitamin C Camu camu (Myrciaria dulia) is a tart berry growing in the Amazonian rainforest. It’s considered one of the world’s most potent sources of vitamin C, but also contains other nutrients including sodium, potassium, calcium, zinc, magnesium, manganese, and copper. By the way, zinc is great for supporting a healthy immune system. According to a 2015 systematic review from The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, decades of research, including human clinical trials, suggest that camu camu has a “well-established” antioxidant capacity that may be important for fighting inflammation and supporting a balanced immune system. The antioxidant effect of camu camu is so powerful that one small 2008 study, published in The American Journal of Cardiology, found that drinking 70 mL of camu camu juice per day (containing more than 1,000 mg of vitamin C) for just one week was enough to significantly lower markers of inflammation and oxidative stress – even in people who smoked. Limited amounts of research also suggest camu camu may improve blood sugar levels and promote healthy blood pressure. You should be able to find camu camu in powder, pill, capsule, or juice form at a natural foods store. Many health supplements will also state on their label whether their vitamin C was derived from camu camu, and you can also consider calling the company and asking directly. Your Body Can’t Make Vitamin C, So It Has to Come From Your Diet – Here’s How Much You Need to Consume Every Day According to the National Institute of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements, the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C is 90 mg and 75 mg per day for adult men and women, respectively (and up to 85 mg and 120 mg per day for pregnant and lactating women). But, in reality, most integrative healthcare providers suggest a much higher intake of vitamin C – especially as we all live in such a toxic world. If you don’t have easy access to camu camu, or supplements containing vitamin C derived from camu camu, you can always be sure to incorporate vitamin C rich foods, including oranges, guavas, kiwis, papayas, bell peppers, broccoli, kale, snow peas, and Brussel sprouts. For context, a 100 gram serving of camu camu contains 3,000 mg of vitamin C. Meanwhile, a 100 gram serving of broccoli contains an impressive 89 mg of vitamin C, whereas a 100 gram serving of oranges contains just 53 mg. Ultimately, your need for vitamin C – and just about every other antioxidant – will depend on your health status. The more you’re exposed to toxins, the more you’ll need to improve your diet and reduce the exposure to unwanted substances. What could be more important than that? Sources for this article include: Healthline.com NIH.gov COVID19treatmenguidlines.nih.gov Fooducate.com Myfooddata.com ODS.nih.gov NIH.gov MayoClinic.org NIH.gov NIH.gov To read the original article click here.

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Sunflower Peptide as ‘Template’ for Potential Analgesic

AHA Publisher — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 07:00:46 +0000

Medical University of Vienna via EurekAlert – A naturally occurring peptide in sunflower seeds was synthetically optimised and has now been identified as a potential drug for treating abdominal pain or inflammation (in the gastrointestinal tract, abdominal area and/or internal organs). That is the finding of an international study led by Christian Gruber from MedUni Vienna’s Institute of Pharmacology (Center for Physiology and Pharmacology), which was conducted jointly with the University of Queensland and Flinders University in Australia and has now been published. The scientific aim of the study is to find analgesics that are only active in the periphery and do not cross the blood-brain barrier, as an alternative to commonly used synthetic opioids. Gruber explains the background: “Morphine was one of the first plant-based medicines and was isolated from the dried latex of poppies more than 200 years ago. It binds to opioid receptors in the brain and is still regarded as the main pillar of pain therapy. However, there is a high risk of opioid addiction, and an overdose – as a result of this strong dependency – inhibits the breathing centre in the brain, which can result in respiratory depression and, in the worst case, in death.” For this reason, researchers throughout the world are trying to make analgesics safer and to find active drug molecules that do not have the typical opioid side-effects. Sunflower extracts were to some extent used in traditional medicine for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. In the current study, the scientists from Austria and Australia, primarily PhD student Edin Muratspahi?, isolated the plant molecule that may be responsible for this effect. Medicinal chemistry methods were then used to optimise the so-called sunflower trypsin inhibitor-1 (SFTI-1), one of the smallest naturally occurring cyclic peptides, by ‘grafting’ an endogenous opioid peptide into its scaffold. A total of 19 peptides were chemically synthesized based on the original SFTI-1 blueprint and pharmacologically tested. “One of these variants turned out to be our lead candidate for as potential innovative analgesic molecule, especially for pain in the gastrointestinal tract or in the peripheral organs. This peptide is extremely stable, highly potent and its action is restricted to the body’s periphery. Its use is therefore expected to produce fewer of the typical side-effects associated with opioids,” point out Gruber and Muratspahi?. The mode-of-action of the peptide is via the so-called kappa opioid receptor; this cellular protein is a drug target for pain relief, but is often associated with mood disorders and depression. The sunflower peptide does not act in the brain, hence there is much less risk of dependency or addiction. Furthermore, it selectively activates only the molecular signalling pathway that influences pain transmission but does not cause the typical opioid side-effects. The data of the animal model in the current study are very promising: the scientists see great potential for using this peptide in the future to develop a safe medication – which could be administered orally in tablet form – to treat pain in the gastrointestinal tract, and this drug could potentially also be used for related painful conditions, e.g. for inflammatory bowel disease. Using Nature’s Blueprint The research of this MedUni Vienna laboratory led by Christian Gruber exploits the concept of using Nature’s blueprint to develop optimised drugs. “We are searching through large databases containing genetic information of plants and animals, decoding new types of peptide molecules and studying their structure, with a view to testing them pharmacologically on enzymes or membrane receptors and ultimately utilizing them in the disease model,” explains Gruber. Finally, potential drug candidates are chemically synthesised in a slightly modified form based on the natural blueprint, to obtain optimised pharmacological properties. To read the original article click here.

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