5 replies to this topic

[theJuiceisWorththeSqueeze]

I was watching the news and heard about this..its interesting so I thought I'd share it with you guys..not sure how true this is..but it was interesting to read and hear about. So here ya go..

Cited from WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com...l-cord-injuries

Blue Dye in M&Ms Helps Spinal Cord Injuries?
Compound Similar to Food Dye May Help People With Spinal Injuries Regain Movement
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

July 29, 2009 -- A compound that's similar to the blue food dye in Gatorade and M&Ms may hold promise for people with spinal cord injuries, new research says.

The compound, called Brilliant Blue G, blocks the cascade of events that leads to inflammation following a traumatic injury of the spinal cord, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center report in a study involving rats.

Inflammation often causes more irreversible damage than the initial trauma, but this secondary damage, considered inevitable, may one day be preventable, the scientists say in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Blue Dye Prevents Inflammation

After researchers led by Maiken Nedergaard, MD, director of neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, injected Brilliant Blue G into rats with spinal cord injuries, the rodents showed improved mobility and even hobbled about. They also temporarily turned blue.

Injured rats that were not given a dose of the blue dye didn’t walk at all.

The results of the study build on research by Nedergaard that was published in 2004 in the journal Nature Medicine.

That study showed that a substance called ATP, the energy source that keeps cells alive, runs out of control at the site of a spinal cord injury, activating a molecule known to cause inflammation and kill spinal neuron cells.

For these neurons, inflammation often causes more damage than the initial trauma to the spine, meaning that for treatment to work it must be administered immediately after the spinal cord injury.

Brilliant Blue G blocks ATP from flooding the spinal injury and triggering inflammation, the researchers say.

The authors say there is no effective way to “treat acute spinal cord injury, apart from the use of steroids, which provide at best modest protection to a subset of patients.”

Nedergaard says that although her research offers a promising new possible approach to treating spinal cord injuries, more research is needed.

Edited by theJuiceisWorththeSqueeze, 30 July 2009 - 02:19 AM.

[CR_L1]

This has been covered already,
http://www.apparelyz...h...c=12395&hl=
duplicate thread

[Slowlegs]

The other post is sort of not really a serious discussion though whereas this one has more potential. I saw this yesterday and it only seems to work at the time of injury as an IV. Apparently the subjects did turn bright blue but I am sure that wouldn't be too much of a problem, especially if it eventually went away.

[edlee]

Being a walking smurf I could take. But injecting Gatorade or M&Ms into my spine,,,, we'll have to talk about that.
ed

[wheeliebear75]

New disc replacements.......blue M&M's.

[dorkette]

Dudes, is it wrong that I'd just wanted to be injected with teh stuff so I'd turn blue? So many possibilites - smurff, violet from willy wonka (violet's turnings violet... pfft, that girl was blue!)