IISc team fabricates nanomaterial to treat Parkinson’s:

IISc team fabricates nanomaterial to treat Parkinson’s:

Context

• The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru researchers have fabricated a metal oxide nanomaterial (Mn3O4) capable of mimicking all three major cellular antioxidant enzymes.
• It will help in controlling the level of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) inside cells.

What purpose will it serve?

• The nanomaterial appears a promising candidate for therapeutic applications against oxidative stress-induced neurological disorders, particularly Parkinson’s.

How is excess of ROS problematic?

• ROS such as superoxide, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical are essential for the normal functioning of cells.
• Excess of ROS generated is usually controlled by the action of three antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase).
• When ROS gets generated in excess, it causes problems and the enzymes are unable to control the level of ROS.
• Oxidative stress due to excessive ROS causes damage to DNA, proteins and lipids; oxidative stress is implicated in several diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

How does it function?

• The researchers tried numerous morphologies and found the flower-like morphology that had the best activity of all three enzymes.
• Pores present on the nanomaterial play an important role as enzyme-active sites and help in scavenging excess ROS.
• The larger pore diameter and pore volume capable of accommodating all the three ROS were found to be critical in determining the enzyme activity of the nanomaterial.
• It was established that the nanomaterial caused no cellular toxicity when internalised by the cells and hence safe.
• The nanomaterial was found to protect against neurotoxin-induced cell death by scavenging the excess ROS that was artificially generated inside the cells.
• Inside the cells, the nanomaterial will substitute the cellular enzymes effectively when the enzymes are inhibited. Due to high pore size and volume, it was able to achieve better activity.

What will be the optimum effects?

• The manganese oxide nanomaterial was able to control the level of ROS inside the cells.
• It just scavenges ROS and brings it to optimum level so normal functions of the cell are not affected.
• The superoxide dismutase enzyme has two forms and one functions in the cytosol and the other inside the mitochondria. Some amount of nanomaterial gets inside the mitochondria as well and controls the ROS produced there.
• The nanozymes have therapeutic potential particularly for Parkinson’s disease.