The research team of Dr. Hyun-Oh Kang of the Materials Analysis Research Department of the Korea Basic Science Institute (President Hyung-Sik Shin, KBSI) developed a nanocomposite that suppresses the formation of amyloid plaques, known as the cause of dementia, through joint research with the research team of Professor Chan-beom Park of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST.
Since the nanocomposite developed by the research team is activated only when receiving red light, it has a great advantage that it can suppress the formation of amyloid plaque by irradiating light at a specific location for a required time, and it is expected to be used in the treatment of new forms of dementia in the future.
Amyloid plaques are clusters of proteins found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s dementia.
As amyloid plaques continue to accumulate in the brain, neurotoxicity is caused and the signaling system of neurons in the brain is destroyed, leading to dementia.
Until now, studies on inhibiting the aggregation of beta amyloid protein for the treatment of Alzheimer’s dementia have been continued, but this study verified the inhibitory efficacy through animal experiments by developing a nanocomposite capable of targeting the treatment site with light and controlling the time. Is the first time.
The research team conducted an experiment with an animal model of dementia (5xFAD) that simultaneously contains major dementia genes. After injecting the nanocomposite solution into one side of the brain of a living rat, the red light (wavelength 617 nm), which has a high penetrability enough to reach deep inside the brain, was irradiated for 2 hours.
The nanocomposite activated by the light generated free radicals, splitting amyloid plaques finely and inhibiting reaggregation and new formation of amyloid plaques.
The developed nanocomposite has a size of less than 5 nm (nanometer), and is a form in which nucleic acid strands are bound to a ball-shaped nucleus.
The nucleus of the nanocomposite is mainly composed of carbon, which is also called’carbon dot’, and is characterized by low toxicity to humans. Nucleic acid strands called’Aptamers’ attached to the nucleus play a role in strongly sticking to the beta amyloid protein.
The nanocomposite developed by the research team has been confirmed to be effective in the complex neurophysiological environment of the living mouse brain, so it is easy to apply it to the development of dementia treatments in the future.
Dr. Hyun-Oh Kang of KBSI said, “In the development of cranial nerve-related therapeutics, the key is whether the therapeutic can pass through the cerebral vascular barrier that protects the cranial nerve cells from foreign substances. The newly developed nanocomposite is based on carbon and It is highly likely to pass through Alzheimer’s and is expected to lead to a new nanocomposite that can treat Alzheimer’s dementia.”
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (creative research, basic science and engineering research) and KBSI (Biodisaster Analysis Technology Development Project). KAIST Professor Chanbeom Park’s research team conducted a study on the synthesis and characterization of nanocomposites, while Dr. Hyunoh Kang’s research team at KBSI conducted a study on the efficacy of nanocomposites through the dementia animal model.
The results of the research are ACS Nano, an international journal in the field of nanotechnology. IF:14.588, JCR top 5%)’.