Food for Thought Brains burn more energy than any other organ to produce and drive electrical signals along the filament-like brain cells that control everything from our breathing to our thoughts. In fact, neuroscientists estimate that 20% of our total energy budget is used just to keep our brains firing. And burning all that energy means brain cells need oxygen, and lots of it. A vast network of blood vessels (around 100,000 miles long) irrigates every nook of our brain ensuring it’s never starved of oxygen or nutrients. But there is still much to be learned about how vessels grow and form networks – a process called angiogenesis. Studying mouse brain (pictured), researchers have identified over 60 genes that could act as switches controlling the growth of vessels. In future, this could help stroke patients heal, or reversely, could be used to kill off brain tumours by stemming their blood supply. Written by Tristan Farrow — Ayşe N Başak, Boğaziçi University, Turkey Türker Kılıç, Marmara University, Turkey Originally published under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0) Published in Vascular Cell 4:16
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Food for Thought

Brains burn more energy than any other organ to produce and drive electrical signals along the filament-like brain cells that control everything from our breathing to our thoughts. In fact, neuroscientists estimate that 20% of our total energy budget is used just to keep our brains firing. And burning all that energy means brain cells need oxygen, and lots of it. A vast network of blood vessels (around 100,000 miles long) irrigates every nook of our brain ensuring it’s never starved of oxygen or nutrients. But there is still much to be learned about how vessels grow and form networks – a process called angiogenesis. Studying mouse brain (pictured), researchers have identified over 60 genes that could act as switches controlling the growth of vessels. In future, this could help stroke patients heal, or reversely, could be used to kill off brain tumours by stemming their blood supply.

Written by Tristan Farrow

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Lessons from Lungs After a lung injury or severe lung infection, some patients suffer a condition known as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) – where the lungs become inflamed and unable to obtain sufficient oxygen. Such patients are given an air supply containing 60 percent oxygen, much higher than the 20 percent present in normal air. But while this oxygenation therapy is life-saving initially, it can sometimes worsen the problem. New research shows that high oxygen levels actually induce more inflammation, which further damages the lungs. The image above shows healthy mouse lung tissue exposed to normal air, on the left, and the inflammation caused by exposure to 100% oxygen, on the right. However, the good news is that if mice are given an anti-inflammatory treatment in addition to high oxygen, inflammation is reduced significantly. This suggests a similar combination therapy might be the best approach for patients with ARDS. Written by Ruth Williams — Michail Sitkovsky Northeastern University, USA Image originally published under Creative Commons Attribution License Published in PLoS ONE 3(6): e174
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Lessons from Lungs

After a lung injury or severe lung infection, some patients suffer a condition known as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) – where the lungs become inflamed and unable to obtain sufficient oxygen. Such patients are given an air supply containing 60 percent oxygen, much higher than the 20 percent present in normal air. But while this oxygenation therapy is life-saving initially, it can sometimes worsen the problem. New research shows that high oxygen levels actually induce more inflammation, which further damages the lungs. The image above shows healthy mouse lung tissue exposed to normal air, on the left, and the inflammation caused by exposure to 100% oxygen, on the right. However, the good news is that if mice are given an anti-inflammatory treatment in addition to high oxygen, inflammation is reduced significantly. This suggests a similar combination therapy might be the best approach for patients with ARDS.

Written by Ruth Williams

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Blood Red? Ever wonder why Spock has green blood? Ask an avid Star Trek fan and they will tell you it’s because his Vulcan haemoglobin, the protein in blood cells that carries oxygen, is based on copper. Human haemoglobin (depicted here in a painting by Irving Geis) is however based on iron. Each haemoglobin molecule is constructed of four identical building blocks made of globin protein (purple) and heme (red). It is the heme group that gives our blood its distinctive red colour. Each heme contains an iron atom surrounded by a ring structure called porphyrin. When porphyrin is bound to iron carrying oxygen, it produces a red colour. While evolution paired up porphyrins with iron in humans, the same is not true for all creatures on earth. Molluscs, like Spock, also use copper giving their porphyrins a green hue. Written by Lux Fatimathas — Rights owned and administered by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Reproduction by permission only.
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Blood Red?

Ever wonder why Spock has green blood? Ask an avid Star Trek fan and they will tell you it’s because his Vulcan haemoglobin, the protein in blood cells that carries oxygen, is based on copper. Human haemoglobin (depicted here in a painting by Irving Geis) is however based on iron. Each haemoglobin molecule is constructed of four identical building blocks made of globin protein (purple) and heme (red). It is the heme group that gives our blood its distinctive red colour. Each heme contains an iron atom surrounded by a ring structure called porphyrin. When porphyrin is bound to iron carrying oxygen, it produces a red colour. While evolution paired up porphyrins with iron in humans, the same is not true for all creatures on earth. Molluscs, like Spock, also use copper giving their porphyrins a green hue.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk