ACS weekly press package April ...( control mental retardation and eventua...)

control, mental retardation and eventually to premature death.
Ron Viola and colleagues at the University of Toledo are reporting the isolation and purification of this enzyme in the May 9 issue of Biochemistry. They now have begun to unravel how it functions. These studies will help us to understand why aspartoacylase malfunctions in patients with this disease, Viola said. The long term goal of this research is to design improved forms of this enzyme that can be used as a treatment in gene replacement therapy.

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ARTICLE #6
En route to smoother flowing blood
Drag-reducing polymers (DRPs) have been used to speed the flow of oil through the Alaska pipeline, make water shoot farther from firefighters' hoses and for enhanced recovery of oil from wells.
Marina V. Kameneva and associates at the University of Pittsburgh previously showed in animal studies that DRPs improved blood flow in ways that could have applications in treating impaired blood circulation in diabetes, heart attacks and other conditions. Previously tested DRPs, which included those extracted from aloe vera plants, sparked a search for better compounds suitable for biomedical use.
In a report scheduled for the May 8 issue of Biomacromolecules, Kameneva describes identification of a new DRP, called DNFV, with potential for clinical use. Researchers found that the compound, PNVF, reduces the blood's resistance to flow and remains intact longer than the most commonly used existing DRP, poly(ethylene oxide). PNVF has no known toxicity. Preliminary animal tests showed that the PNVF did not produce any adverse effects in acute experiments. However, further studies are necessary to prove PNVF as a candidate for potential biomedical applications.

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Contact: Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
202-872-4400
American Chemical Society
8-May-2006

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