[퓨처타임즈=송호창 기자] The research team of Dr. Hyun-Oh Kang of the Materials Analysis Research Department of the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) announced on the 6th that it has developed a nanocomposite that inhibits the formation of amyloid plaques, known as the cause of dementia, through a joint research with the research team of Professor Chanbeom Park of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST.
The nanocomposite developed by the research team is activated only when exposed to red light.
It has a great advantage that it can suppress the formation of amyloid plaque by shining light at a specific location for a required time, and it is expected to be of great help in the treatment of new forms of dementia in the future.
Until now, research on inhibiting the aggregation of beta amyloid protein for the treatment of Alzheimer’s dementia has been continued.
However, this is the first research that has developed a nanocomposite capable of targeting the treatment location with light and controlling the time and verifying its inhibitory efficacy through animal experiments.
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, a red light (wavelength 617 nm) with 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, “The nanocomposite developed this time is based on carbon and has a high possibility of passing through the cerebral vascular barrier. It is expected to lead to a new nanocomposite that can treat Alzheimer’s dementia.”
Meanwhile, the research results were recently published in the international academic journal’ACS Nano’.
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