Gold-filled discovery in transplants

Tissue transplantation may have a shining future -- if gold proves to be as precious as recent research on neutral transplants suggests. By filling envelopes made of viruses with colloidal goldColloidal gold, also known as "nanogold", is a suspension (or colloid) of sub-micrometre-sized particles of gold in a fluid--usually water. The liquid is usually either an intense red colour (for particles less than 100 nm), or a dirty yellowish colour (for larger
..... Click the link for more information. and fusing them with nerve cells, scientists at the University of South Florida


• • [ in Tampa have been able to track the migration of transplanted cells and measure their survival.

Used for years as a cell marker, the gelatin-like colloidal gold is easily distinguished by its yellow or bright white appearance through a microscope. Gary W. Arendash and his co-workers took advantage of gold's shining qualities and devised a model system applicable to transplantation science.


By scanning transplanted tissue for signs of gold, the scientists were able to follow the migration of transplanted cells through areas of the rats' brans, and to determine that the transplanted cells survived at least three months. Both location and viability are crucial to understanding the fate of nerve-tissue transplants, which have attracted attention and controversy as potential treatments for conditions like Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease or Parkinsonism, degenerative brain disorder first described by the English surgeon James Parkinson in 1817. When there is no known cause, the disease usually appears after age 40 and is referred to as Parkinson's disease.
..... Click the link for more information. (SN: 11/28/87, p.341). Arendash said in an interview that it should be possible to similarly label other types of cells used for transplants, and that the gold/Sendai system might settle the debate over whether adrenaladrenal /ad·re·nal/ (ah-dre´n'l)
1. paranephric.

2. adrenal gland.

3. pertaining to an adrenal gland.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ad·re·nal
adj.
1.
..... Click the link for more information. cells transplanted into the brain for treating Parkinson's actually survive, or instead release nerve-cell-stimulating factors before their death. Although tissue must be removed when the colloidal gold technique is used, the scientists are now evaluating another marker that is already being used in clinical imaging techniques and that might be engulfed by reforming Sendai virus envelopes -- thus providing a way to follow grafts in vivo in vivo /in vi·vo/ (ve´vo) [L.] within the living body.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

in vi·vo
adj.
Within a living organism.


in vivo adv. .
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Gold-f...k...-a06423801

Why is gold so important?
What are the properties of gold?
Pure gold is soft and wears easily. It is often mixed with other harder metals. A mixture of metals is called an alloy.

Gold is very unreactive. This means it is resistant to corrosion and tarnishing. That is why a gold nugget can be buried in the ground for thousands of years and still come up looking shiny.

Gold is malleable (easily shaped) and ductile (can be drawn into very thin wire). A square lump of gold about the size of your thumb nail would weigh an ounce. That ounce of gold can be flattened into a sheet so thin that it would be thinner than a piece of refill paper, and light could pass through it. It would cover an area about the size of a small bedroom. The same lump of gold can be drawn into a piece of wire 80 km long. That's long enough to go around a rugby field 23 times.

http://www.marthamine.co.nz/schools/gold_sch.html

what has this to do with the price of gold?
1 troy ounce of gold -
markets across the world
www.goldprice.com

the truth about the gold standard perhaps?

Lasers Med Sci. 2008 Jul;23(3):217-28. Epub 2007 Aug 3.

Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) using gold nanoparticles.
Huang X, Jain PK, El-Sayed IH, El-Sayed MA.

Laser Dynamics Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400, USA.

The use of lasers, over the past few decades, has emerged to be highly promising for cancer therapy modalities, most commonly the photothermal therapy method, which employs light absorbing dyes for achieving the photothermal damage of tumors, and the photodynamic therapy, which employs chemical photosensitizers that generate singlet oxygen that is capable of tumor destruction. However, recent advances in the field of nanoscience have seen the emergence of noble metal nanostructures with unique photophysical properties, well suited for applications in cancer phototherapy. Noble metal nanoparticles, on account of the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance, possess strongly enhanced visible and near-infrared light absorption, several orders of magnitude more intense compared to conventional laser phototherapy agents. The use of plasmonic nanoparticles as highly enhanced photoabsorbing agents has thus introduced a much more selective and efficient cancer therapy strategy, viz. plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT). The synthetic tunability of the optothermal properties and the bio-targeting abilities of the plasmonic gold nanostructures make the PPTT method furthermore promising. In this review, we discuss the development of the PPTT method with special emphasis on the recent in vitro and in vivo success using gold nanospheres coupled with visible lasers and gold nanorods and silica-gold nanoshells coupled with near-infrared lasers.

PMID: 17674122 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


Publication Types, MeSH Terms, Substances, Grant SupportPublication Types: Research Support, N.I.H., ExtramuralReviewMeSH Terms:AbsorptionAnimalsGold/chemistryGold/therapeutic use*HumansHyperthermia, Induced/methods*Metal Nanoparticles/chemistryMetal Nanoparticles/therapeutic use*Neoplasms/therapy*Scattering, RadiationSurface Plasmon Resonance/methods*Substances:GoldGrant Support:U54CA119338/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States

__ http://tiny.cc/mSKOu
LinkOut - more resources

Gold And Its Relationship To Neurological/Glandular Conditions

Douglas G. Richards, Ph.D., David L. McMillin, M.A.,
Eric A. Mein, M.D., Carl D. Nelson, D.C.

Meridian Institute

International Journal of Neuroscience
2002, Volume 112, pages 31-53

[Click here to view this document in Adobe Acrobat format (2.34 MB).]


Abstract
Despite increasing sales of gold supplements, and claims of benefits for neurological and glandular conditions, gold has received little attention in modern medical literature except as a drug for rheumatoid arthritis. Historically, however, gold had a reputation as a "nervine," a therapy for nervous disorders. A review of the historical literature shows gold in use during the 19th century for conditions including depression, epilepsy, migraine, and glandular problems including amenorrhea and impotence. The most notable use of gold was in a treatment for alcoholism developed by Leslie E. Keeley, M.D. In the modern medical literature, gold-containing medicines for rheumatoid arthritis are known to have occasional neurotoxic adverse effects. There are also a few studies suggesting a role for gold as a naturally occurring trace element in the reproductive glands. One small recent study demonstrated a possible positive effect of gold on cognitive ability. There is a need for more experimental and clinical research into the neuropharmacology and neurochemistry of gold, and exploration of gold's possible role as a trace element.

http://www.meridianinstitute.com/ceu/ceu25gol.html