UCF Nanoparticle Offers Promise for Treating Glaucoma By Barb Abney
The findings will be published in an article appearing in the June 28 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
Seal and his team created a specialized cerium oxide nanoparticle and bound it with a compound that has been shown to block the activity of an enzyme (hCAII) believed to play a central role in causing glaucoma.
The disease involves abnormally high pressure of the fluid inside the eye, which, if left untreated, can result in damage to the optic nerve and vision loss. High pressure occurs, in part, because of a buildup of carbon dioxide inside the eye, and the compound blocks the enzyme that produces carbon dioxide.
Seal and a team of collaborators including Sanku Mallik, of North Dakota State University, developed the research on using nanoparticles as a delivery mechanism for the compound after supervising a student summer project at UCF. Duke University undergraduate Serge Reshetnikov spent a summer studying nanoscience on UCF’s Orlando campus as part of a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) project funded by the National Science Foundation. Reshetnikov started looking into the possibilities of using nanoparticles as drug delivery tools. Subsequent research with his advisors led to the specific application for glaucoma.
In their paper on the research, which was also supported by the National Science Foundation, Seal and Mallik note the results are “very promising” and that their nanoparticle configuration offers seemingly limitless possibilities as a non-toxic drug delivery tool.
Contact: Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala zkotala@mail.ucf.edu 407-823-6120 University of Central Florida
Technorati Tags: Nano or Nanotechnology and Nanotech and glaucoma or University of Central Florida and nanoparticle or enzyme (hCAII) and Emulsion with a Round-Trip Ticket or Currier & Ives Angels and Tree of Life and Hey Technorati My Authority is not getting updated! Blogroll 06/21/07
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