Injection of Melanin Nanoparticles Could Make Human Body Radiation-Resistant
Researchers have successfully tested a technique that uses melanin-coated nanoparticles to protect bone marrow from damage commonly sustained during radiotherapy One of the major downsides of radiation therapy, which is commonly used to shrink cancerous tumors, is its harmful effect on normal cells. Now, thanks to research done by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, doctors may someday use melanin-covered nanoparticles to administer higher doses of radiation to cancerous cells without compromising the healthy ones. Ekaterina Dadachova, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the university recently tested the particles in mice, which responded well to the technique after exposure to radiation. Symptoms of bone marrow damage include a drop in the number of white blood cells and platelets. Melanin, a pigment responsible for skin color, not only curbs the formation of free radicals, which damage DNA, but it eliminates the ones that manage to form anyway....