By Collin Arocho
Almost 25 years ago, Dr. Tadeusz Malinski was the first in the world to publish in Nature (1992) a paper describing a nanosensor that could measure nitric oxide (NO) in a single endothelial cell. This measurements provided final proof that NO exists in biological cells and is a vital regulator of the function of the vasculature and heart, as well as controlling long-term memory in the brain.
Dr. Tadeusz Malinski
Decades later, it is still the gold standard in research and clinical measurements of NO. Malinski’s work has been cited more than 11,000 times in world scientific and medical literature.
Continuing with the use and further developments of this nanosensor, Malinski has reached another groundbreaking moment in this science. Recently, he teamed with some scientists from the Medical University of Graz (Austria) and they developed a novel multi-colored fluorescent quenching—nitric oxide nanosensors.
This research is reported in an article titled Development of novel FP-based probes for live-cell imaging of nitric oxide dynamics, published in Nature Communications on Feb. 4, 2016.
The genetically encoded nanosensors can provide real-time information about the concentration of NO and its propagation in living cells. Additionally, the nanosensor also can precisely monitor complex NO signaling not only at the cellular level, but also at the subcellular level (about 0.5 µm)—for instance, in mitochondria.
The capabilities of this new method to not only measure the concentration and propagation of NO in the cardiovascular system but to allow researchers to physically see it. This has opened the door to a new era of NO imaging and provides entirely new possibilities for early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, the customization of personalized treatments in medicine. This will allow specifically targeted therapies for vascular diseases and give the ability to address these diseases much earlier than ever before.
One of the most important aspects of this study is that the measurements taken with this new imaging system have independently confirmed, within5-10% error, the measurements that were initially taken 25 years ago with the first porhyrinic nanosensor are, indeed, correct.
Among the list of senior authors on the Feb. 4 Nature Communcations article, Malinski collaborated with Professor Rolan Malli and his group of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the Medical University of Graz (Austria) and former Ohio University Visiting Professor Seth Hallström, now at the Institute of Physiological Chemistry, also at the Medical University of Graz.
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