A team of Chinese scientists has found a way to introduce plant-based, light-activated nanoparticles into animal cells to improve their health and lifespan.
When the team’s photosynthetic nanoparticles were transplanted into rats and rabbits with degenerative disease conditions, they helped boost energy production and restore disrupted cell interactions.
By integrating their plant-based system with implantable, wirelessly powered lights, the team also proposed an approach for deep tissue treatment of cell dysfunction linked to ageing and disease.
“This treatment model has broad application prospects for various diseases involving imbalanced organelle interaction networks,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications on March 31.
As cells age or are affected by damage or disease, the interactions between their organelles – structures within cells that function like small organs with specific functions – can become disrupted.
The team from the Zhejiang University school of medicine said that these disruptions due to metabolic stress were a large factor in the progression of many degenerative conditions.
