Kolkata, May 14
The age-old home remedy for
jaundice - nimbu paani or lemon juice - has now got a 21st century
spin, thanks to Indian scientists.
They have literally squeezed lemons to nano-dimensions to create a nanodrug for speedy and accurate therapy of the disease.
Widening
the scope of nanomedicines in India, scientists in West Bengal have
designed special nanoparticles that break down bilirubin - the yellow
pigment found in bile, a fluid made by the liver.
Essential to
liver health, higher than normal levels of bilirubin in blood
(hyperbilirubinemia), may indicate certain diseases, including jaundice,
in adults as well as newborns.
"High levels may lead to
brain damage or even death in newborns and adults, if not treated. To
combat this, we designed manganese oxide nanoparticles capped with
citrate, a derivative of citric acid found in citrus fruits such as
lemons," Nabarun Polley, of S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic
Sciences, Kolkata, told IANS.
Polley, a senior researcher at the
Centre's department of chemical, biological and macro-molecular
sciences, explained that this nano-hybrid helps to degrade bilirubin
and bring it down to a normal level swiftly.
"It is actually
like nimbu paani administered through nanoparticles," said Polley,
adding lemon juice is usually suggested due to its cleansing nature.
Through
experiments performed on lab mice, Polley and his co-investigators at
Jadavpur University and Dey's Medical, showed the nanoparticles to be
safe, compatible with the body, and proved that they had the ability to
act directly and specifically on the target-bilirubin.
This
ensures the nanodrug doesn't affect any organ. There were no toxic
effects after the particles were injected into the mice and parameters
like blood cell count didn't change," said collaborator Soumendra
Darbar, research and development division, Dey's Medical Stores (Mfg.)
Ltd.
In fact, this precision which is the product's USP, also takes care of the time factor.
"It
brought down high bilirubin levels within two hours (in mice) while
the commercially available drug silymarin took more than a day to
control the levels for the equivalent dose," said Polley, adding the
group has been working on this specific nanoparticle for the last five
years.
The latest findings, which are currently in press for
publication in the Nanomedicine journal, open a new door for
"cost-effective and efficient therapeutic treatment of
hyperbilirubinemia, jaundice and associated diseases," according to
group leader Samir Kumar Pal.
"We have been working on detection
as well as the treatment aspect of elevated bilirubin. In the near
future, we could help avoid preventable deaths of newborns," said Pal,
professor at the Centre's department of chemical, biological and
macro-molecular sciences.
Union Minister of Science and
Technology Harsh Vardhan, post his visit to Pal's lab recently, had
highlighted on Facebook that neonatal jaundice deaths, comprise 18
percent of newborn mortality in India.
He was particularly
impressed with a non-invasive, computer-based fibre-optic detector
fabricated by the group that detects bilirubin levels within three
seconds by shining light on the white part of one's eye.
"Nanomedicine
has huge potential for India as it has elsewhere in the world.
Specially, diagnostics promises to offer cheap and faster way for
detecting diseases for India. This has a huge potential for India
because our healthcare is not as widespread," said Praveer Asthana,
Mission Director, Nano Mission,Department of Science & Technology,
India.
(Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at [email protected])
