Ana Lumbreras.- Logroño, (EFE).- Scientists from the Biomedical Research Center of La Rioja (CIBIR) have studied the effect of using so-called cold mimetic molecules in an animal model and have verified that it is similar to that produced by hypothermia when applied in certain diseases, such as eye diseases, strokes and heart attacks.
The principal investigator of the CIBIR Angiogenesis Unit, Alfredo Martínez; and the postdoctoral researcher in the Biomarkers and Molecular Signaling Group of this center, Rafael Peláez, have explained to EFE the result of this study, in which Manuel Rey, professor and researcher of the Experimental Neuropathology Group of the University of Buenos Aires, also participates. Aires (Argentina).
The results of this research, recently published in an international scientific journal, “lead us to think that these molecules can be transferred to the clinic, once the lack of toxicity and their applicability in humans are demonstrated”, Martínez added. .
These molecules form a new family of drugs, since it is the first time that their usefulness and possible applications in the health field have been demonstrated.
This research is based on a previous project funded by the United States Department of Defense, also developed by these researchers in collaboration with the San Pablo CEU University, to find new ways to try to limit the damage that can occur to the vision of people from various traumas, for example, those caused by explosions, as occurs in wars.
This initial study, dating from 2017, made it possible to demonstrate that therapeutic hypothermia, that is, lowering the temperature of the eye by five degrees, was capable of preventing neuronal death caused by eye trauma to the optic nerve.
However, the application of hypothermia can cause unwanted effects in patients, so the researchers designed a series of molecules capable of performing the same function as hypothermia, but at room temperature.
These molecules are protected by a patent from the Rioja Salud Foundation (on which the CIBIR depends); the San Pablo CEU University of Madrid and the University of Buenos Aires.
In the current study, using cold-mimetic molecules, very similar results to those observed with the direct application of cold have been obtained, indicating the utility of these molecules.
“The analysis of the results indicates that there is a total parallelism between providing these molecules, which we have called hypothermia mimetics, and hypothermia itself,” Martínez specified.
“This is – he insisted – of great importance because these hypothermia mimetics could be applied in any disease in which therapeutic hypothermia is currently applied, not only in ocular cases”, such as strokes, heart attacks and asphyxia perinatal care of children at birth, for example.
THE NEW MOLECULES WORK
Researchers have damaged the optic nerve by pinching, causing the death of retinal neurons and loss of vision in laboratory animals.
When hypothermia was applied – a drop in eye temperature to 32 degrees – it was found that it was capable of preventing the death of vision neurons by at least 80 percent.
In the latest study, instead of providing a drop in temperature, the animal was injected with cold mimetics and it has been verified, Martínez assured, that the effects are “totally parallel and almost identical” to those if hypothermia were applied. therapeutic, “that is, these molecules work”.
He has insisted that it is the first time that these molecules have been applied to a living being.
Peláez has referred to the fact that the surgery carried out on the animal in the optic nerve caused damage that caused the death of certain cells of the retina, after which the new treatment was applied, which has allowed blocking the death of these cells and restore the functionality of the eye.
The research continues, he added, with new studies to apply these molecules to other types of damage to the eye, with the aim of trying to recover, maintain or improve the situation of patients, explained this researcher.
He has insisted that this new treatment also provides other advantages, since the application of therapeutic hypothermia requires a series of complex and expensive devices, which many hospitals in rural areas and third world countries cannot afford.
Faced with this, a simple injection with one of these molecules could be much easier to apply in these situations, Martínez and Peláez have concluded.