Sandia nanolaser may help extend life-spans by rapidly analyzing possible neuroprotec...( welling effect caused by the addition o...),Health

welling effect caused by the addition of calcium ions ( the reaction thought to be the agent of death for both mitochondria and their host cells. The researchers expect to introduce neuroprotectant drugs into experiments this month, and be able to test hundreds of possible protective substances daily instead of two or three formerly possible.

"If we can use this light probe to understand how mitochondria in nerve cells respond to various stimuli, we may be able to understand how all cells make life or death decisions - a step on the road, perhaps, to longer lives," says Gourley.

To do that, he says, scientists must understand how a cell self-destructs, which means understanding how mitochondria send out signals that kill cells as well as energize them.

The universal energy provider

Mitochondria have long been known as the mechanism that produces ATP, the universal energy driver for animal life. ATP powers each cell similarly to the way that gas powers each automobile. But scientists have found that the tiny power plants have another function. When cells are signaled to die - acceptably, as when biomaterial is shed from a uterus during its periodic menstrual cycle, or unacceptably, as the result of certain neurological diseases - an excess of calcium ions and free radicals that result from certain chemical reactions in the body open a large pore in the inner membrane in that cell's mitochondria. The pore enables release of a protein called cytochrome C that kills the cell. Meanwhile, the mitochondrion itself swells and explodes. One way to stop this suicidal process would be to find a chemical that would shield the mitochondria from these intruders.

Unexpected bursts of light

The observation technique developed at Sandia to test for such effects came about almost by accident. In the innovative lab arrangement already developed by Gourley's group, a micropump sends fluids containing suspect material through
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Contact: Neal Singer
nsinger@sandia.gov
505-845-7078
DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
23-Sep-2003

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