how do they think of this stuff??????? i heard this on paul harvey today, then my aunt e-mailed me this article. the biochemist they mention in the article is from my university i went to.
Last Updated: 2008-04-07 14:41:45 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Louisiana biochemists are hopeful that several proteins found in the blood of alligators may lead to the development of powerful new antibiotics to help fight infections associated with diabetic ulcers, severe burns and "superbugs," like MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which are resistant to several currently available antibiotics.
They described their research Sunday at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans.
"We are excited about the potential of these alligator blood proteins as both antibacterial and antifungal agents," Dr. Mark Merchant, a biochemist at McNeese State University in Lake Charles said in a conference statement.
Alligators, unlike people, can fight off attacking micro-organisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria without having prior exposure to them. "The goal of our project is to find the proteins that lead to the exceptionally strong innate immune system in alligators," Kermit Murray, of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, who is involved in the research, told the conference.
"Alligators live in swamps and marshes and they are very aggressive and, as a consequence, sustain very serious injuries but they heal rapidly and often without infection, so there is something in alligator blood that is very strong against various (disease-causing) pathogens," Murray explained.
The researchers extracted active proteins from disease-fighting white blood cells isolated from the blood of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). In laboratory tests, tiny amounts of these protein extracts killed a variety of bacteria, including MRSA (pronounced mer sa) - the deadly drug-resistant bacteria once confined to hospitalized patients but now being seen more often in the community.
In other lab studies, protein extracts also killed several different strains of an infection-causing fungus called Candida albicans and showed considerable promise against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Murray and colleagues are now working to identify the exact chemical structures of the infection-fighting proteins and determine which ones are most effective against different organisms.
"There's a real possibility that you could be treated with an alligator blood product one day," Merchant commented in the statement.
Last Updated: 2008-04-07 14:41:45 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Louisiana biochemists are hopeful that several proteins found in the blood of alligators may lead to the development of powerful new antibiotics to help fight infections associated with diabetic ulcers, severe burns and "superbugs," like MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which are resistant to several currently available antibiotics.
They described their research Sunday at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans.
"We are excited about the potential of these alligator blood proteins as both antibacterial and antifungal agents," Dr. Mark Merchant, a biochemist at McNeese State University in Lake Charles said in a conference statement.
Alligators, unlike people, can fight off attacking micro-organisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria without having prior exposure to them. "The goal of our project is to find the proteins that lead to the exceptionally strong innate immune system in alligators," Kermit Murray, of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, who is involved in the research, told the conference.
"Alligators live in swamps and marshes and they are very aggressive and, as a consequence, sustain very serious injuries but they heal rapidly and often without infection, so there is something in alligator blood that is very strong against various (disease-causing) pathogens," Murray explained.
The researchers extracted active proteins from disease-fighting white blood cells isolated from the blood of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). In laboratory tests, tiny amounts of these protein extracts killed a variety of bacteria, including MRSA (pronounced mer sa) - the deadly drug-resistant bacteria once confined to hospitalized patients but now being seen more often in the community.
In other lab studies, protein extracts also killed several different strains of an infection-causing fungus called Candida albicans and showed considerable promise against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Murray and colleagues are now working to identify the exact chemical structures of the infection-fighting proteins and determine which ones are most effective against different organisms.
"There's a real possibility that you could be treated with an alligator blood product one day," Merchant commented in the statement.