Fluorescent Neural Cells from Monkey Skin Mature Into Several Types of Brain Cells in Monkeys

This neuron, created in the Su-Chun Zhang lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, makes dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in normal movement. 

The cell originated in an induced pluripotent stem cell, which derive from adult tissues. Similar neurons survived and integrated normally after transplant into monkey brains—as a proof of principle that personalized medicine may one day treat Parkinson's disease. 

Credit: Image courtesy Yan Liu and Su-Chun Zhang, Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison

For the first time, scientists have transplanted neural cells derived from a monkey's skin into its brain and watched the cells develop into several types of mature brain cells, according to the authors of a new study in Cell Reports.

After six months, the cells looked entirely normal, and were only detectable because they initially were tagged with a fluorescent protein.

Because the cells were derived from adult cells in each monkey's skin, the experiment is a proof-of-principle for the concept of personalized medicine, where treatments are designed for each individual, and since the skin cells were not "foreign" tissue, there were no signs of immune rejection -- potentially a major problem with cell transplants.

"When you look at the brain, you cannot tell that it is a graft," says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"Structurally the host brain looks like a normal brain; the graft can only be seen under the fluorescent microscope." Marina Emborg, an associate professor of medical physics at UW-Madison and the lead co-author of the study, says,

"This is the first time I saw, in a nonhuman primate, that the transplanted cells were so well integrated, with such a minimal reaction. and after six months, to see no scar, that was the best part."

The cells were implanted in the monkeys "using a state-of-the-art surgical procedure" guided by an MRI image, says Emborg.

The three rhesus monkeys used in the study at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center had a lesion in a brain region that causes the movement disorder Parkinson's disease, which afflicts up to 1 million Americans.

Parkinson's is caused by the death of a small number of neurons that make dopamine, a signaling chemical used in the brain.

The transplanted cells came from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), which can, like embryonic stem cells, develop into virtually any cell in the body. iPS cells, however, derive from adult cells rather than embryos.

In the lab, the iPS cells were converted into neural progenitor cells. These intermediate-stage cells can further specialize into the neurons that carry nerve signals, and the glial cells that perform many support and nutritional functions.

This final stage of maturation occurred inside the monkey. Zhang, who was the first in the world to derive neural cells from embryonic stem cells and then iPS cells, says one key to success was precise control over the development process.

"We differentiate the stem cells only into neural cells. It would not work to transplant a cell population contaminated by non-neural cells."

"By taking cells from the animal and returning them in a new form to the same animal, this is a first step toward personalized medicine. ...

Now we want to move ahead and see if this leads to a real treatment for this awful disease." Another positive sign was the absence of any signs of cancer, says Zhang -- a worrisome potential outcome of stem cell transplants.

"Their appearance is normal, and we also used antibodies that mark cells that are dividing rapidly, as cancer cells are, and we do not see that, and when you look at what the cells have become, they become neurons with long axons [conducting fibers], as we'd expect.

They also produce oligodendrocytes that are helping build insulating myelin sheaths for neurons, as they should. That means they have matured correctly, and are not cancerous."

The experiment was designed as a proof of principle, says Zhang, who leads a group pioneering the use of iPS cells at the Waisman Center on the UW-Madison campus. The researchers did not transplant enough neurons to replace the dopamine-making cells in the brain, and the animal's behavior did not improve.

Although promising, the transplant technique is a long way from the clinic, Zhang adds. "Unfortunately, this technique cannot be used to help patients until a number of questions are answered: Can this transplant improve the symptoms? Is it safe? Six months is not long enough… And what are the side effects? You may improve some symptoms, but if that leads to something else, then you have not solved the problem."

Nonetheless, the new study represents a real step forward that may benefit human patients suffering from several diseases, says Emborg. "By taking cells from the animal and returning them in a new form to the same animal, this is a first step toward personalized medicine."

The need for treatment is incessant, says Emborg, noting that each year, Parkinson's is diagnosed in 60,000 patients. "I'm gratified that the Parkinson's Disease Foundation took a risk as the primary funder for this small study. Now we want to move ahead and see if this leads to a real treatment for this awful disease."

"It's really the first-ever transplant of iPS cells from a non-human primate back into the same animal, not just in the brain," says Zhang.

"I have not seen anybody transplanting reprogrammed iPS cells into the blood, the pancreas or anywhere else, into the same primate. This proof-of-principle study in primates presents hopes for personalized regenerative medicine."

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Squid turn skin into living jewels

Lots of animals have sparkly skin, but squid are one of few that can change the colour of their shimmer.

Now Trevor Wardill and colleagues at the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, are getting new insight into how they do it by zapping their skin with electricity.

In this video, iridescent patches of skin change hue when nerves near the fin are stimulated. The signal travels through a network of nerves in the skin, allowing the squid to cycle through a range of hues from blue to red in about 15 seconds.

They also change colour via a similar mechanism that alters pigment-containing cells, but the animals are able to display different opaque hues much faster.

The experiment shows that rather than being a local reflex, the central nervous system controls changes in shimmer. But how squid pick and maintain their skin colour is still a mystery.

The hue of the shimmer helps the animals camouflage themselves - but they are colour blind, so scientists are puzzled by how they know they've got it right.

Scottish Lustre Pure Light acne treatment - YouTube

Introducing Lustre Pure Light - a blue light treatment for acne which allows you to beat spots while carrying on with your life. More information at LustrePureLight.com

Many patients find that their skin improves and their spots seem better when they have been out in the sunshine (ref 1).

However sunlight also contains ultraviolet (UVA-UVB) light which can damage skin and even cause skin cancer.

Scientists have found that visible blue light at a wavelength of 420 nm does not cause damage to the skin but is effective in killing P. acnes, the bacteria which causes acne.

Blue light has been used by dermatologists for many years to treat acne.

Spider Silk Skin can Stop a bullet

Dutch artist Jalila Essaïdi and cell biologist Abdoelwaheb El Ghalbzouri have blended spider silk with human skin to produce material that is three times stronger than kevlar.

In the first clip, the bioengineered skin cushions a bullet fired at half speed. But its resistance has its limits: when shot at a full speed of 329 m/s, the bullet pierces the material and travels through it. The same tests were also performed with piglet skin, human skin and human skin fused with regular silkworm silk, which were all penetrated by bullets of both speeds.

An international team worked together to create the new material. First, transgenic goats and silkworms equipped to produce spider-silk proteins spun out the raw material at the synthetic biology lab at Utah State University. The cocoons were then shipped to South Korea, where they were reeled into thread, before being woven into fabric in Germany. The modified silk was then wedged between bioengineered skin cells developed by biochemist Abdoelwaheb El Ghalbzouri at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. After five weeks of incubation, the hybrid skin was ready for target practice.

In addition to exploring the material artistically, Essaïdi is also looking into practical uses, such as skin transplants. Spider silk is already being developed by other teams for high-tech applications, which range from artificial corneas to brain implants.

For more about spider silk spin-offs, check out our full-length feature: "Stretching spider silk to its high-tech limits". Or you might also like to find out about the science behind a lavish golden spider-silk cape, currently on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

iPhone: Amazing spray coating can make it waterproof [video]

NeverWet on Electronics and Conformal Coatings from Ross Nanotechnology on Vimeo.

Neverwet, a new spray coating, can turn almost anything waterproof. Like seriously waterproof, as in messy sauces, juice, ink and oil don’t just bead off — they shoot off the surface.

It’s also anti-corrosive, sending even bacteria and ice running and screaming for the hills.

While there are a host of water-resistant coatings and products available, most only offer hydrophobic properties and fall short of the litmus test to be considered “waterproof.”

Ross Technologies claims that their silicon-based product is superhydrophobic, meaning it repels liquids at a very high “contact angle” (175 degrees), which is the distance wedged between a water droplet and the surface. So the higher the contact angle, the rounder the water droplet.

The secret to how the patent-pending technology works is a proprietary arrangement of nanoparticles that turns water droplets into near-perfect spheres.

Originally, researchers at the company had set about developing a material that would prevent steel from corroding and realized that such a product might also work on a variety of surfaces, including fabrics.

They eventually came up with a separate coating that can be applied just about anywhere.


To demonstrate Neverwet’s mighty water, stain and dirt-repelling abilities, the company has produced a series of mini-infomercials where spilled water scurries away in terror, chocolate syrup simply slides off a treated shoe and a coated iPhone is shown to still work while submerged underwater — even after half an hour.

The company says that the coating is exceptionally durable, stating on their website that “NeverWet™ coatings have remained under seawater for over a year and reemerged completely dry.”
The final product isn’t scheduled to hit the market until sometime next year.

Axolotl: Most vertebrates descended from ancestor with sixth sense

Using the Mexican axolotl as a model to represent the evolutionary lineage leading to land animals, and paddlefish as a model for the branch leading to ray-finned fishes, the researchers found that electrosensors develop in precisely the same pattern from the same embryonic tissue in the developing skin, confirming that this is an ancient sensory system.

People experience the world through five senses but sharks, paddlefishes and certain other aquatic vertebrates have a sixth sense: They can detect weak electrical fields in the water and use this information to detect prey, communicate and orient themselves.

A study in Nature Communications that caps more than 25 years of work finds that the vast majority of vertebrates - some 30,000 species of land animals (including humans) and a roughly equal number of ray-finned fishes - descended from a common ancestor that had a well-developed electroreceptive system.

This ancestor was probably a predatory marine fish with good eyesight, jaws and teeth and a lateral line system for detecting water movements, visible as a stripe along the flank of most fishes. It lived around 500 million years ago. The vast majority of the approximately 65,000 living vertebrate species are its descendants.

"This study caps questions in developmental and evolutionary biology, popularly called 'evo-devo,' that I've been interested in for 35 years," said Willy Bemis, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a senior author of the paper. Melinda Modrell, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge who did the molecular analysis, is the paper's lead author.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, there was a major split in the evolutionary tree of vertebrates. One lineage led to the ray-finned fishes, or actinopterygians, and the other to lobe-finned fishes, or sarcopterygians; the latter gave rise to land vertebrates, Bemis explained.

Some land vertebrates, including such salamanders as the Mexican axolotl, have electroreception and, until now, offered the best-studied model for early development of this sensory system. As part of changes related to terrestrial life, the lineage leading to reptiles, birds and mammals lost electrosense as well as the lateral line.

Some ray-finned fishes - including paddlefishes and sturgeons - retained these receptors in the skin of their heads. With as many as 70,000 electroreceptors in its paddle-shaped snout and skin of the head, the North American paddlefish has the most extensive electrosensory array of any living animal, Bemis said.

Until now, it was unclear whether these organs in different groups were evolutionarily and developmentally the same.

Using the Mexican axolotl as a model to represent the evolutionary lineage leading to land animals, and paddlefish as a model for the branch leading to ray-finned fishes, the researchers found that electrosensors develop in precisely the same pattern from the same embryonic tissue in the developing skin, confirming that this is an ancient sensory system.

The researchers also found that the electrosensory organs develop immediately adjacent to the lateral line, providing compelling evidence "that these two sensory systems share a common evolutionary heritage," said Bemis.

Researchers can now build a picture of what the common ancestor of these two lineages looked like and better link the sensory worlds of living and fossil animals, Bemis said.

Nanotube Springs Stretch Skin-Like Sensor - YouTube

Using carbon nanotubes bent to act as springs, Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor.

The sensor can be stretched to more than twice its original length and bounce back perfectly to its original shape.

It can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds. The sensor could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics and touch-sensitive computer displays.

Stanford University:
http://www.stanford.edu/

Psoriasis: debilitating socially and emotionally

“Psoriasis is a predisposition for your immune system to react with your skin,” said Dr. Ellen Marmur, chief of the Division of Dermatologic and Cosmetic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

“Something that would normally… trigger a slight reaction in most of us, will trigger a domino effect in somebody with psoriasis.”

Beneath the surface, a psoriasis patient’s immune system overreacts and begins to attack itself. This abnormal activity is more characteristic of an autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.

Healthy skin regenertaes itself every 28 days but with psoriasis and as a result of inflammation, skin cells regenerate every two to four days, causing an excessive build up of cells.

When this happens, patches of the skin develop plaque, which is thick, red and scaly. The dead cells surface on top of irritated areas as loose, dry skin. They have a silver-white color and can flake off or crack. Depending on the type and severity, psoriasis can be painful and itchy.

In addition to the symptoms experienced, psoriasis patients who scratch their skin are likely to encounter or create further damage.

“If you scratch your skin, or if you have a piece of clothing that rubs against your skin in the area that is irritated, you can develop psoriasis. This is called the Koebner phenomenon,” said Dr. Mark Lebwohl, chairman of the Department of Dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Hospital.

Causes
Outbreaks are usually triggered by environmental factors like skin injuries; cold weather, infections, such as strep throat; bad reactions to medications; and even stress.

Psoriasis isn’t contagious. It can affect anyone and can plague anyone from babies to the elderly, Lebwohl said.

While some cases are so mild the patient doesn’t realise they have psoriasis, severe cases can be very debilitating and cover nearly the entire surface of the body.

The elbows, knees and scalp are the most common areas to be affected, however, psoriasis can present anywhere on the body, Marmur said.

Mild psoriasis is defined as 3 percent body coverage and severe psoriasis as 10 percent or more. Approximately 25 percent of those with psoriasis have a moderate or severe case.

There are a number of Types of Psoriasis
Where it turns up and how severe it is, has a lot to do with which of the five types of psoriasis you have.

1. Psoriasis vulgaris, also known as plaque psoriasis, is the most common, affecting more than 80 percent of all psoriasis patients. It can be a really well circumscribed pink, red plaque with a silvery or gray scale.

2. Guttate psoriasis is also red and scaly but smaller and typically covers larger body parts. It affects approximately 10 percent of psoriasis patients and can be triggered by strep throat.

3. Inverse psoriasis is red but doesn’t have the silvery-white scales. It presents as moist and red and covers smooth, creased areas of the skin like the armpits, the groin and underneath the breasts. Obese patients are most prone and tend to have more severe symptoms

A large portion of psoriasis patients are obese or become obese, said Lebwohl, who includes a heart-healthy diet as one course of action to improve your condition.

4. Pustular psoriasis looks like little spots of acne all over the body, Marmur said.

5. Erythrodermic psoriasis is the most severe form of the disease when plaque covers most of the body surface

Pustular and erythrodermic psoriasis are the rarest and the most dangerous. While they can occur independently, patients who develop them generally have plaque psoriasis. They are potentially fatal because they compromise the body’s ability to ward off infections and control body temperature.

“The typical story will be a patient with plaque psoriasis is given systemic steroids, cortisone,” Lebwohl said. “That clears psoriasis, but as you take them off of the steroids, you can develop a horrific flare where your body gets covered head to toe with red skin, or covered with puss pimples… Many of these patients will grow bacteria in their blood and can actually die from sepsis.”

Problems Associated With Psoriasis
Patients can become anemic from dangerously low amounts of protein in the blood, or suffer from other factors as a result of these debilitating forms of the disease.

When treating a psoriasis patient, doctors will ask a series of questions called the SF-36 to measure how it has impacted there lives.

In addition to its debilitating physical and psychological effects, psoriasis can force patients to miss work in order to manage their disease. Some of Lebwohl’s psoriasis patients have lost, or quit their jobs because of the amount of time they had to take off, he said. Others quit because of the embarrassment of not being able to perform.

“The National Psoriasis Foundation has looked at the incomes of patients and, basically, you can correlate income negatively with the various severities of the disease. The more severe, you’re going to earn less money,” said Lebwohl, who is also the chairman of the Medical Board of the National Psoriasis Foundation.

The disease is also linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression.

“Not only can it be debilitating socially and emotionally, but people with psoriasis also have a risk of other internal diseases,” Marmur said. “It’s like running your car at maximum, you’re just going to burn out other parts of the engine and infrastructure, other things are likely to premature wear or to be damaged.”

Dealing with the effects
Make sure you have been correctly diagnosed. Consult regularly with your doctor to ensure that you are receiving the best medical treatment. In addition to this, seek out local self help groups where you can share experiences and get practical advice. Keep up to date on the latest research but don't be the first one to try it.

Check what you are eating and try to establish living and healthy eating patterns, reducing your intake of artificial chemicals, sugar and caffeine. Also actively pursue activities which you enjoy and which relax you, give you a sense of well being. Learn to relax yourself through yoga, meditation or simply reading a book in a warm quiet room.

It is often difficult to mix well in groups and crowds because of the skin irritation but mainly because of the 'stigma' that makes you feel less worthy. Psoriasis and many other skin complaints do severely damage the self esteem and this leads to self isolation and exclusion from society. Seek out a good friend and ask for their help and support in keeping you socially active, simply by accompanying you to venues. To tell you the truth, we all do it, why not you?

National Psoriasis Foundation - Addressing Psoriasis

National Psoriasis Foundation - Addressing Psoriasis

August is Psoriasis Awareness Month

Each August, the National Psoriasis Foundation of the US, sponsors Psoriasis Awareness Month, dedicated to raising awareness, educating the public and dispelling myths about psoriasis.

Psoriasis is the most prevalent autoimmune disease in the U.S., affecting as many as 7.5 million Americans. It occurs when the immune system sends out faulty signals resulting in red, scaly patches on the skin that bleed and itch. Psoriasis is not contagious.

Psoriasis frequently occurs with a range of other health concerns including Crohn's disease, diabetes, hypertension, heart attack, depression and liver disease.

Up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes pain, swelling and stiffness around the joints. People with mild psoriasis are just as likely to develop psoriatic arthritis as those with moderate or severe forms of the disease.

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