Nanoparticles Enter One's Brain Via Olfactory Bulb

MO-411 writes "An article in Nature News briefly looks at nanoparticles' entry into the brains of lab rats. The fascinating point is that the 35-nanometer particles entered via the olfactory passageways. Scientist confirmed this via plugging one side of the a rats nose. This is significant, as Ken Donaldson, a toxicologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK says. 'I would never have thought of looking for inhaled nanoparticles in the brain.' Think about it -- everything from kitty litter to wallboard dust is likely ending up inside the one's brain, circumventing the blood/brain barrier and all its protections. It also makes for an interesting delivery mechanism for other substances..."

Does this mean...

[Molina the Bofh]

...that I'll be able to inhale caffeine ?

Re:Does this mean...

[sycotic]

you can snort most things and get some sort of "hit"

Re:Does this mean...

[Molina the Bofh]

True. But, according to the article, thou shall not snort illegal stuff, for you are what you sniff.

Re:Does this mean...

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

if it isn't illegal, it isn't fun. Ever heard of someone who had a good time sniffing salt or pepper?

Re:Does this mean...

[Molina the Bofh]

Nope, but I already heard of someone who had a good time making others sniffing pepper.

Re:Does this mean...

[foniksonik]

Nope, it means that you may already be inhaling caffeine along with millions of other nanoparticles... straight into your brain, that is if caffeine is a small enough particle.

Re:Does this mean...

[rollout]

Start the office pool - who's going to be the first athelete to use this excuse for a failed steroid test?

aside from the tempting drug references

[hurtstotouchfire]

Wow this article is really just an invitation isn't it. But the article does talk about other interesting realms this might affect. This may also lead to a fuller understanding of the health effects of the nanosized particles produced by diesel engines.

Inhalation Toxicology [tandf.co.uk], the journal referenced at the bottom of the article, has some other interesting articles on nanoparticles. I searched for all the cancer-related articles [nature.com] that mention nanoparticles, and they do have several articles discussing nanoparticles being used in immunizations and various 'cures', which is kind of encouraging. It seems to me that any medication that we could just shoot through the brain/blood barrier, would be quicker and possibly more effective.

Unfortunately, the archived articles require a membership, that I'm too lazy to get, to read.

rack it up

[wolfywolfy]

some of us already knew about using the nasal passage to get 'small particles' across the blood-brain barrier . . ;)

Re: rack it up

[Black Parrot]

> some of us already knew about using the nasal passage to get 'small particles' across the blood-brain barrier . . ;)

Yeah, but you're gonna remember this story next time you smell a phard.

Feature

[mnmn]

This is one of the undocumented features of the Homo Sapiens (not really Homo). Its like the nice 'to be discovered' things that come with DVDs. Unfortunately, someones now documenting it

Re:Feature

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

That's impossible. If God was like Bill Gates we wouldn't be able to get along without oftenly violently crashing into eachother, the world would be littered with bugs, sometime the weather would be so fucked up that houses collapse under it, and most of the religion wouldn't make sense.
Wait a minute...

Re:The Ice Storm

[Bob Cat - NYMPHS]

Hello, meta-moderators. The parent post refers to Tobey saying the EXACT SAME THING the article is about. Crikeys, if they didn't see the movie, they shouldn't mod a post about it.

Can Nanoparticles Enter Our Brains?

[rpiquepa]

You'll find more details and references in this overview [weblogs.com], including an article from the Guardian [guardian.co.uk]. So far, the story is about rats, but Professor Gunter Oberdorster of the University of Rochester in New York said: "It's too early to be alarmed, because we don't yet know what the particles might do in humans. We shouldn't stop working with them, we should just look for what adverse effects these particles might cause." Now, more experiments are needed to determine how nanoparticles can enter our brains. In the mean time, let's hope that nanotechnology research will continue and will not be harmed by a moratorium.

Re:Can Nanoparticles Enter Our Brains?

[MO-411]

Consider the pathway is slow, measured in days. Not to mention the immune system's response to invaders and the very limited volume of material being transported due to the inadequate transport mechanism mechanics.
One element that I do not understand about the blood brain barrier is transport of waste away from the brain. I always assumed the way out of the brain does not have the same limitations as the way in, but I am unsure.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Yikes

[Curtman]

Next time someone farts near me they're liable to get a swift fist to the face.

Re: Better then Lotto

[MO-411]

Now there is a take on the story I am sure the BAR will be quite fond of... :-)

Golly...

[xagon7]

"It also makes for an interesting delivery mechanism for other substances"

O say like... cocaine?

Poor rat...

[Per Wigren]

Poor rat... ;-(

so that's why

[bluethundr]

Think about it -- everything from kitty litter to wallboard dust is likely ending up inside the one's brain,

So that must be why I've been scratching up the furniture, licking myself and pissing to "mark my territory". One side benefit (other than the obvious one of licking oneself) is that I've been saving a TON of money on food! [friskies.com]

Thank God!

[AyeRoxor!]

For a moment there, I thought they entered throught the nose!

Avoid smelly men's rooms from now on

[Hoi Polloi]

If your brain picks up what you smell then this proves that my brain truly is full of shit!

Evolution

[Libertarian_Geek]

Please, don't start a huge tangent of creationism vs. evolution.
So, I wonder why we evolved (were given if you prefer) this "feature". Does this have anything to do with how we remember or compare smells? What about fossilized or mummified brains, can we gather information about the environment of earlier periods using this? What effect does this play on allergies? Just wondering.

URGENT HEALTH ALERT from the Surgeon General!

[Alsee]

The Surgeon General issued a press release today advizing everyone to immediately become strictly mouth-breathers.

-

ok now lets get to the real question...

[shaitand]

If the ladies can no longer breath through their noses, how does this bode for oral sex?

Am I the only one who is concerned that replacement females could become scarce if they are dying left and right from lack of oxygen?

This is a serious issue, perhaps we should just keep this bit of research to ourselves gentlemen.

Re:ok now lets get to the real question...

[Ted Williams' Frozen]

My God man, It should be obvious that more research must be done. Years of research on oral sex with thousands of women performing it dozens of times a day. Double blind studies, published papers with peer review, repeating studies to ensure their scientific validity, grants.

I would be willing to sacrific to be involved in say, a ten year study.

This kind of thing could get science geeks laid for decades... I mean "advance scientific knowledge". Yeah, scientific knowledge.