Can Your Skin Smell?

In a study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, researchers found that olfactory receptors in human skin play a significant role in skin healing. Certain skin cells, called keratinocytes, harbor olfactory receptors (just like in the human airway), and were found to respond to certain stimuli.

The researchers found that these keratinocytes expressed a specific olfactory receptor called OR2AT4. In the lab, the cloned OR2AT4 samples were responsive to Sandalore, a synthetic sandalwood odorant. Sandalwood odorants were used due to their prominent role in fragrances and aromatherapy. The cloned OR2AT4 receptors mediated strong Ca²+ signals in the keratinocytes. In turn, the activation of the OR2AT4 receptors also induced “a cAMP-dependent pathway and phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (Erk1/2) and p38 mitogen–activated protein kinases (p38 MAPK)”. 

The study also demonstrated that prolonged stimulation of the OR2AT4 receptor with Sandalore increased cell proliferation, migration, and regeneration of keratinocyte monolayers; all of which are all involved in the wound healing process.

Since there are more than 150 different types of olfactory receptors found in internal tissues such as the heart, liver, and gut, this study lends insight into the possible functionality of these receptors. It also provides scientific backing to aromatherapy and the biological role of scents.

sources:

http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/jid2014273a.html

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40463/title/Human-Skin-Can--Smell--Odors/

Cell-specific drugs may be the future treatment for melanoma patients

Malignant melanoma is regarded as one the most dangerous and life-threatening skin cancers. More recently, melanoma mortality and morbidity rates have significantly increased during the past few decades on a global scale. It is especially more rampant in people of Celtic and Northern European origin that maintain fair skin types. If caught early with accurate diagnosing, a good prognosis can be made shortly followed by curable treatments. However, if the melanoma is left undiagnosed it can become insidiously progressive and metastasize throughout the rest of the body. After the point of metastasis, a localized skin excision where the melanoma originally manifested is no longer a viable treatment option. Aggressive oncological treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy, and invasive surgeries must quickly be pursued in order to preserve the life of the patient. The problem with some of these treatments is that they are non-cell specific regarding the actual cancer/tumor cells. When the body is treated with radiation or chemotherapy, there is a high potential of affecting non-carcinogenic cells in the body that don’t necessarily require treatment.

Recently, there has been cell-specific studies conducted involving competitive molecule inhibitors that directly suppress malignant melanoma tumors. Researchers are utilizing murine (mice) models to facilitate further insight into how these mechanisms work. Treatments with competitive molecule tumor suppressors have conclusively proven to halt melanoma tumor growth in mice while increasing the overall survival expectancy. Although these studies have demonstrated the efficacy of cell-specific pathways by interfering with tumor growth, there were also negatively observed side effects pertaining to the immune systems of the mice that were treated with the inhibitory drug. It’s important that we try to minimalize these side effects associated with tumor inhibitory drugs so that they may be implemented into future melanoma treatments without causing harm to the patient. Further research is necessary in order to fully comprehend the complex mechanisms behind the tumor suppressing inhibitory effects of these molecules. This will also allow scientists to simultaneously study how they affect the immune system negatively in order to make the corrections necessary to lessen these particular side effects. These cell-specific pathway studies give promising insight and demonstrate future capabilities that science may be able to offer patients who have been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma.

How a blood transfusion may one day recharge your brain

Humans are living longer and an increased lifespan has resulted in an elevated percentage of the population suffering from aged-related cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease.  Recent studies of animal models of aging provide insight into the mechanisms of brain aging as well as exciting new potentials to treat the age-related cognitive declines.  Tony Wyss-Coray and his colleagues at Stanford University compared older mice’s performance on standard laboratory tests of spatial memory after these mice had received infusions of plasma from young versus old mice, or no plasma at all.  Systemic administration of young blood plasma into aged mice improved age-related cognitive impairments in both contextual fear conditioning and spatial learning and memory.  Moreover, the researchers identified molecular and structural changes in the brains of older mice receiving infusions of young mice plasma.  

Wyss-Coray’s group identified changes in the hippocampus, a structure key for forming certain types of memories, notably the recollection and recognition of spatial patterns.  Both experience and aging modulate hippocampal activity and anatomy; veteran London cabdrivers have a larger than average hippocampus while normal aging deteriorates the hippocampus. In Alzheimer’s disease, this hippocampal deterioration is accelerated, leading to an inability to form new memories.  When researchers compared hippocampi from old mice who received the young mice plasma with those from old mice that had received plasma from other old mice, they found consistent differences in a number of biochemical, anatomical and electrophysiological measures known to be important to nerve-cell circuits’ encoding of new experiences for retention in the cerebral cortex.  It is unclear what factors present in the blood from young mice caused these changes or if similar results will occur in humans.  However, in the future these results may mean new therapeutic approaches for treating Alzheimer’s disease and other aged-associated cognitive disorders.