BY NEUTRALISING dangerous breakdown products in the blood, a new drug may
protect cells against damage following a stroke or heart attack.
Daniela Salvemini, a pharmacologist at MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals in St Louis,
Missouri, and her colleagues have created a “synzyme”—a synthetic version
of the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), which inactivates oxygen radicals that
can cause fatal tissue damage.
This boost of SOD activity protected rats following a blood-restriction
injury. Of eight animals that received the synzyme, seven were still alive four
hours after the injury. Four mice that received a similar molecule with no SOD
activity died within four hours (Science, vol 286, p 304). Salvemini
says the company plans to start clinical trials of a similar drug next year.
