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Cell Metabolism Artificially Enhanced

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Fri May 23, 2008 04:32 PM
from the you-wouldn't-like-me-when-I'm-hungry dept.
Biotech Science
NewScientist is reporting that Swiss researchers have shown that a cell's metabolism can be increased without altering the genetic makeup. Small plastic packages of enzymes have been successfully inserted into cells, increasing metabolism. "Meier and colleagues coated their polymer vesicles in a chemical that encouraged human white blood cells called macrophages to engulf them. The small capsules contained enzymes, just like natural organelles. The enzymes chosen produced fluorescent chemicals, signaling they were working without problems inside their new host."
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  • wonderful (Score:3, Funny)

    by d3l33t (1106803) on Friday May 23 2008, @04:37PM (#23522872)
    now people can be lazy AND fit... mark one against global warming
    • Not only that, but TFA says that in the future, they may even be able to get human cells to produce energy through photosynthesis. So instead of eating right and exercising, we could all just drag our fat pasty asses outside and...you know, maybe that isn't such a great idea after all.

      • Re:wonderful (Score:5, Informative)

        by TropicalCoder (898500) on Friday May 23 2008, @04:53PM (#23523022) Homepage Journal

        says that in the future, they may even be able to get human cells to produce energy through photosynthesis.

        I don't think that photosynthesis is efficient enough to provide us with any significant amount of energy. Plants have to increase potentially energy-absorbing surface area by putting our branches to support many leaves. Even so, that still doesn't give them enough energy to even walk around the block, let alone commute to work. When is the last time you saw a plant walking by? Perhaps if you live a very sedentary life style - like maybe a programmer living in his mother's basement - but then again, this type rarely sees the sun anyhow.

        • Well hopefully even the most sedentary programmer is still thinking, and our brains our one of the biggest energy consumers in our body.
          • Not me! I'm runnin' Coppermine(TM) neurons!

          • Well of course. I was reading the other day that the body consumes up to a hundred watts at rest, and the brain - about 15% of that. While I appreciated the mods, I was really trying to be funny. Began the setup by stating the obvious, moved on to the ridiculous, then finished off with an easily identifiable Slashdot archetype. I guess my presentation was a little too dry for the humour to come across. I'll have to work on that :-)

            • Well, you've made the classic Slashdot budding humorist error. You said something potentially insightful then went for the funny.

              Confuses them every time.

              Next time, just go for the humor. You'll promptly get modded "Troll" most of the time, but just keep working at it.

              You really don't need all those karma points. It's just a game.

          • ...When dormant/docile, these tentacles are rooted into the ground and are used to draw nutrients, as with a normal plant. When active ... use[s] these tentacles to propel themselves along at a moderate walking pace

            Mod parent up +5 Insightful! - and read his post. He has even properly linked his authoritative source.

      • Re:wonderful (Score:5, Funny)

        by Original Replica (908688) on Friday May 23 2008, @06:22PM (#23523652) Journal
        they may even be able to get human cells to produce energy through photosynthesis.

        So someday there will green skinned chicks sunbathing their way to ever better levels of physical fitness? The day I see that, I'm totally changing my name to James T. Kirk.

        • So someday there will green skinned chicks sunbathing their way to ever better levels of physical fitness? The day I see that, I'm totally changing my name to James T. Kirk.
          But how will you know when they've gone off ?
      • This was a minor point made in the John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" trilogy. One of the books in it was a recent hugo award nominee. If you could bio-engineer people, why not go for some enhancements. Especially for an alien killing soldier.

  • Waste of energy... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Daniel Weis (1209058) on Friday May 23 2008, @04:43PM (#23522912)
    I see this as very interesting commentary on the human persona. We consume energy which is of extreme importance and complain of its excessive cost whilst we abuse it. We then expend more precious energy to figure out ways to use more energy in an inefficient manner to trick our bodies into no longer storing the energy for later dire straights.

    The fundamental basis of this idea is flawed. I personally don't get it.

    However, it is certainly marketable and will cause someone to be filthy rich if they can really force humans to expend more energy without doing anything that actually requires the energy (such as exercise).

    But I digress, all that aside, the pure discovery is interesting.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by geekoid (135745)
      "The fundamental basis of this idea is flawed."
      Pretty bold statement for someone who doesn't get it.

  • ...fluorescent chemicals? (Score:4, Funny)

    by pushing-robot (1037830) on Friday May 23 2008, @04:46PM (#23522954)
    Thank you, researchers. The world really needed a metabolism-enhancing enzyme that turns you green. [wikipedia.org]

  • Other Uses (Score:5, Informative)

    by MrMunkey (1039894) on Friday May 23 2008, @04:47PM (#23522956) Homepage
    This is /. so I suppose reading the article isn't a given. There are other uses than just for increasing the metabolism. Other uses include targeting cancerous cells specifically, giving lactose intolerant people enzymes in their stomachs, and making your skin do photosynthesis so you don't even have to eat. They're all theories around the new "NanoReactor" they created for delivering their payloads. I'm assuming that increasing the metabolism was the easiest test to perform in a dish.
  • Seems like great science work. However, I'm a bit worried about the potential applications. If/when this process becomes cheap, I can just see this becoming permanent make-up.

  • What the paper really claims (Score:5, Informative)

    by xplenumx (703804) on Friday May 23 2008, @05:21PM (#23523244)
    Tamsin Osborne, who wrote the NewScientistTech article, certainly didn't understand the original article and focused on sensationalism rather than scientific accuracy.

    The original paper did not increase the metabolism of the macrophage. What the original paper did was encage an enzyme, trypsin, in a "nanometer-sized polymer vesicle". This vesicle was coated with a protein that induce macrophages to engulf the vesicle (which is what macrophages do - they phagocytose). The authors then incubated macrophages which contained the vesicles with a dye (BZiPAR) that fluoresces (emits a wavelength of light - in this case green) when treated with trypsin (trypsin cuts of parts of the BZiPAR that suppress fluorescence).

    We already know how to non-genetically introduce proteins to cells, for example using liposomes or the tat-peptide approach. What makes this work interesting is that the polymer vesicle is more stable than liposomes and, unlike the other methods, the vesicles don't release their content into the cell. Instead, the cell's components have to enter into the polymer vesicle.

    This is an interesting technical development. It is not, however, everything that Mr. Osborne makes it out to be.

  • Interesting Development (Score:3, Informative)

    by Guppy (12314) on Friday May 23 2008, @05:41PM (#23523376)
    Something like this has been recognized to occur in certain cancers, through Oncosomes. In such cases, the cancerous cells bud off vesicles which fuse with healthy cells, containing oncoproteins that induce a cancer-like phenotype in the target cell, despite no change in the healthy cell's genotype.

    Anyway, I find this interesting. While restricted to situations where you could physically make the delivery, it raises the possibility of obtaining (temporarily) effects similar to those of gene-therapy without the gene. By producing your target protein ex vivo you eliminate an entire class of problems revolving around how to introduce and express foreign DNA.

  • Funding (Score:3, Funny)

    by quantaman (517394) on Friday May 23 2008, @08:30PM (#23524302)
    The Swiss Researchers also wish to extend their thanks to the two main sponsors of the research, Major League Baseball and the US Olympic Team.
  • Hey come on now. I've seen this one already. Then they can't eat fast enough to keep up with their super metabolism and their nerves kinda take a beating too and then when they're in the middle of a goa'uld ship, their body can't take it anymore and they risk failing the mission. Come on, who can't see that coming? Sci fi shows are here to warn us, people! Like the Jetsons telling us we're all gonna have to live in the sky if the sea level rises and we'll all have dishwashers and vending machines!
  • "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very very brightly, Roy."

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by David Munch (939296)
      So? It will raise peoples metabolism? For what purpose?

      Metabolism is more than just eating food. Increased metabolism could result in increased energy in the cells, used for, oh lets say athletes? It would be virtually impossible to detect using normal meassures. I can certainly see a benefit for some people.
      • and the first customers will be... Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
      • I thought about that part aswell, but in another subject. But since I didn't knew how the drug worked I didn't mentioned anything about it.

        But if it raises mitochondia activity they will burn more fuel, but that will probably end up with more free radicals, more oxidizing damage and eventually earlier cell/person death. So this drug may eventually kill you prematurely.

        May help them, may not. For explosive work you use ATP and not carbohydrates, for less explosive work the acidity may stop you instead, depen

    • What are needed aren't more stimulants or excuses, eat for performance not for pleasure and lift your fucking ass!
      Why is that? A fat person who's lazy is going to consume the same amount of resources as a skinnier person who runs. How is food significantly more or less suitable for pleasure than, say, the nintendo DS you mentioned in one of your previous comments? How is it less appropriate than the internet or any other pleasurable pursuit?

      What's funny is that there's plenty of food, the shortfall is mostly due to diverting the food to ethanol and feeding livestock. The biggest obstacle to feeding the poor (arguably the only obstacle) is politics and other, non-food-related problems.

      Exception being people who really have some form of medical condition which make their metabolism or body not work as intended, but those people are probably very rare, if there even are any
      Wow. Publicly doubting that there are medical conditions that could make someone fat. What a great, insightful comment you make; you're very rational. Next time you make a comment like this, you might as well just scream about how much you hate fat people and leave the environmentalism and poor people out of it.
      • Why is what? Why they should move themself? To consume more energy of course. Thought it's more effecient to just eat less, but I had that covered aswell.

        Extra fat weight don't use much extra energy at all, even extra muscle doesn't use that much extra energy while resting. The fat will be like say 1-2 kcal / kg or something, it won't help you in a way which matters in rest. Sure it will use more energy to move all that weight, so if the fat person starts moving it will makes a difference, but then really f
    • So? It will raise peoples metabolism? For what purpose?
      Here's some conditions that occur to me that might be improved by suddenly raising metabolism:
      1) depression
      2) help cure (or recover from) diseases for which the body has an autoimmune response
      3) Rapid weight loss (if, for example, you'll be dead within 10 days if you don't lose 30 pounds within 5 days, which I've heard can come up)
      4) Blood loss recovery

      It should also be noted that pretty much everything that raises metabolism also does something else. Is that something else medically beneficial to someone? Maybe.
      • All valid responses, a few questios thought:
        1) how?
        3) I doubt it will make such a difference, 13.6 kg of body fat would hold approximately 95.200 kcal, so you would need to raise your metabolism by 20.000 kcal / day to reach that goal .. Also with treating food like something we need to eat to survive and not something we eat because it's fun those people would probably not need to take such drastic measurements.
        • 1) Depends on the cause of the depression. Its sometimes linked to metabolism in some ways.

          3) Yeah...but sometimes every calorie counts.
          • I know it will, but he said 13.6 kg bodyfat in 5 days. 100 kcal reduction won't make that happen.

            And I didn't said 20.000 kcal was a good idea, but it is what is needed to lose all that fat.
    • Cells != people.

      increasing the metabolism of a single cell could save lives and reverse the effects of some diseases. Thankfully, at least for most of us, we are made up of more than one cell.
    • First paragraph: Bunch of strawman arguments

      Second paragraph: Clearly you don't unsderstand eating and food availability.

      "Simply useless, not to say really stupid!"
      Great arguement, it doesn't even knock over your strawman!

      "What are needed aren't more stimulants or excuses, eat for performance not for pleasure and lift your fucking ass!"

      Yeah....exept you are over looking the fact that going on a diet with will take years to loose weight, this could make it a shorter time.

      You should check into reality once is
      • A reasonable weight loss are 0.5 kg / week so 26 kg in a year. Fast weight loss suck because it makes you lose more muscle.

        Intresting that my post have fallen from +4 insightful to 0 flamebait.
      • Now with flavour!
        • As long as it's not like Chuck Wagon :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnwppcD-SMc&feature=related [youtube.com]
          Because if that miniature horse and wagon comes ripping through my place, I'll grab my shotgun, then chase it down...and kill it!

          *grumble* Damn mini horse and wagon goes tearing through the place and jumps into the frikkin tv EVERY time I try to sit down and eat! Worse than those telemarketers! *grumble*

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by joshtheitguy (1205998)
        This is why someone needs to invent Bachelor Chow already and no substitutions I want exactly how it is in Futurama.
      • Cats are supposed to regulate their food intake well, atleast that's what the food bags says, thought mine is fat. I've tested to not give her that much food but her complaints are annoying so she just tend to always have food in her bowl.

        Anyway I think one of the biggest problem are that people don't see and eat food for functionality, but rather for pleasure. They don't eat to get the nutrition and energy they need for the day, they eat because they like it, it tastes good and makes them feel good.

        But to
        • Find something else to make you happy and feel good for doing.

          I got fired from my last job for doing that. And it's kinda' messy.
        • I find it surprising that someone with such idiotic opinions can write so much.
      • Perhaps he's a fat person who hates himself for being so fat? Judging from the site he's posting on and the hate that he's spewing for no apparent reason, I'm going to guess that he's 25, has the mentality of a 15 year old, lives in his mother's basement and gets told how dirty and sinful he must be to have so much weight.

        But those are just guesses. Who knows, maybe I'm being optimistic :D

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by aliquis (678370)
          Quite close. I used to be beat up as child, have always been small, am 28, has the mentality of someone much young, live alone, have thought that I was "fat" even thought I wasn't (went down to 54 kg at 173 cm as worst), and kind of still does.

          Still valid points thought.

          I know how I still feel if I have chocolate nearby, I could easily eat the whole bar but I don't because I know it's a bad idea. Some people don't think so it seems. Most of my food is very boring and I don't feel an urge to eat lots of it,
          • I used to be beat up as child, have always been small, am 28, has the mentality of someone much young, live alone, have thought that I was "fat" even thought I wasn't (went down to 54 kg at 173 cm as worst), and kind of still does.

            Holy unstable tense/perspective/conjugation, Batman!
      • I don't know what the butterfly effect is.

        I don't know if it's 100% proved and fact to say that raised metabolism makes the cells die faster, but looking at free radicals and what happens to rats if you starve them it seems likely.

        But then people do die for other reasons when cells not being able to split any more aswell. (Thought cancer risks may raise aswell I guess.)

        The question is if exercise makes you live longer or not, I guess it depends on the intensity and volume (and drugs ..), also if you eat mor

    • Re:What you're saying is (Score:5, Funny)

      by eln (21727) on Friday May 23 2008, @04:55PM (#23523046) Homepage

      Now how about they do something useful like killing the HIV? It killed my mom, my dad, my uncle, my brother, my great great aunt, my PlayStation, and my dog.
      I think maybe you should get yourself tested. And by the way, that's not really the way you're supposed to "play" with your PlayStation. Or your mom, dad, uncle, brother, great great aunt, and dog for that matter.
      • Could have at least, for a change, put some more effort into it. Something small, like citing more of the dialog in question goes a long way.

        "And I for one welcome our new florescent, metabolically enhanced overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted slashdot personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves."

        (Cells use sugar for energy,... right?)

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