Patent Application: US-26523808-A

Abstract:
a method includes applying salmon fibrin at a central nervous system injury site . for example , applying salmon fibrin can include injecting salmon fibrin . the method can also include causing the suppression of astrocyte activation , whereby glial scarring is at least reduced . the functional recovery of a patient who has suffered a central nervous system injury is promoted according to this method .

Description:
according to the invention , salmon fibrin is applied , preferably by injection , at the cns injury site to promote suppression of astrocyte activation and therefore glial scarring , resulting in measurable and significant functional recovery . because of the many risks and uncertainties inherent in human and other mammalian biologics , and the cytotoxicity and ineffectiveness of fish whole serum or plasma , it is preferred that fish plasma components used in connection with the method of the present invention are separated ( purified ) from the whole plasma of farmed fish . fish species for which consistent and reproducible methods of production are well established are best suited for use in the method of the present invention . exemplary use of salmonids , specifically the atlantic salmon ( salmo salar ), will be described and demonstrated ; however , the scope of the present invention is not limited to use of this particular species . according to the method of the present invention , advantages of the use of fish plasma components are exploited . the method of the present invention takes advantage of the fact that commercial salmon aquaculture has grown dramatically in recent years . in maine alone , there are over six million fish , averaging 4 - 6 kilograms each , reared in offshore pens annually . the availability of raw material ( blood ) and the efficiency of recently developed blood - drawing methods and devices contribute to a large supply and availability of fish blood . by utilizing these domesticated fish stocks reared in aquaculture facilities , plasma can be obtained with product consistency similar to plasma from , for example , herds of cattle reared for this purpose . further , although amino acid sequences in fish and mammalian plasma proteins have less than 50 % identity , many of the critical sequences or active sites required for similar function in both fish and mammals , are highly - conserved among vertebrates including salmon and trout . salmonid plasma components are unlikely to transmit mammalian infections agents . the wide evolutionary distance between fish and mammals , and the differences in body temperature between mammals and the cold - water fishes such as trout and salmon , provide safety from cross - species infection . salmonid plasma components are more effective than mammalian products for certain applications . because salmon lipids and plasma proteins must function in vivo over a wide range of temperature , ph , and osmolality , their performance in tissue culture reflects these properties . salmon lipids are highly unsaturated and rich in omega - 3 fatty acids . lypholized salmon fibrinogen is easily reconstituted at room temperature , unlike lyophilized mammalian fibrinogens , which must be heated to 37 ° c . ( catalog 1999 , calbiochem , san diego , calif .). gels produced with salmon fibrinogen and thrombin are more resistant to changes in ph and nacl concentration than gels made with human proteins ( fig1 ). mammalian neurons grown in salmon gels show enhanced process outgrowths compared to neurons grown in mammalian gels ( fig2 - 4 ). salmonid plasma components can be produced with lot - to - lot consistency . an important requirement is for donor fish to be reared under consistent and reproducible conditions , not necessarily the nature or specifics of these conditions . the reproducibility of conditions reduces variability in quantity and quality of plasma components . the physiology of fishes , including plasma composition , is regulated to a much greater degree by external factors than that of mammals . therefore , plasma composition can be manipulated by environmental or nutritional means not possible in mammals . for example , amounts of cholesterol and high - density lipoprotein ( hdl ) are significantly different in salmon held at different salinities or fed different diets . ( babin and vernier , 1989 ). according to the present invention , fibrinogen and thrombin from the plasma of atlantic salmon ( s . salar ) was used for the disclosed examples because consistent and reproducible methods for their production are well established , large numbers are reared in commercial aquaculture operations , and individual fish are large enough for blood to be obtained easily . the process begins with the consistent and reproducible conditions under which donor fish are reared . all fish used as plasma sources preferably are progeny of domesticated broodstock , inspected for fish disease according to the american fisheries society “ blue book ” standards , sexually immature , in the log - phase of growth , larger than two kilograms , reared by standard husbandry methods , and fed a commercially pelleted food appropriate to the species . water temperature at the time of bleeding is preferably 4 ° c . to 12 ° c . the fish are preferably starved for five days before bleeding to reduce proteolytic enzymes and non - protein nitrogen . each fish is stunned , such as by a blow to the head , or by immersion in ice - water , or in water containing co 2 or other fish anesthetic , in order to render the fish to a level of loss of reflex activity ( unconsciousness ) as defined by schreck and moyle , ( 1990 ). whole blood is then drawn , preferably from the caudal artery or vein with a sterile needle and a syringe or vacuum tube containing an anticoagulant such as acd ( acid citrate dextrose ), trisodium citrate , or other anticoagulant commonly used in human blood - banking . whole blood is held for no more than four hours at 2 °- 4 ° c ., and then centrifuged at 2 °- 4 ° c . because of the large amounts of highly unsaturated fatty acids , plasma to be used for lipid extraction preferably is handled under argon , or an antioxidant such as alphatocopherol , bht , or mercaptoethanol at less than 1 ppm is added . plasma is then frozen , for example , at − 80 ° c . for fibrinogen extraction and purification , the method of silver et al ., 1995 preferably is used . this method is based on ammonium sulfate precipitations , which yields greater than 95 % pure fibrinogen ( by sds - page ). preferably , thrombin is prepared by the method of ngai and chang , 1991 . these extraction techniques are illustrative of those currently in use , but other techniques may be equally effective . the essential requirements are that all process temperatures must remain below 4 ° c . and there must be no cytotoxic chemical residues in the product . fig5 shows the basso , beattie , and bresnahan ( bbb ) scores of rats , treated with salmon ( n = 8 ) or human fibrin ( n = 8 ) or untreated controls ( n = 8 ) after spinal cord injuries ( t9 hemisection injury ). the day post - surgery is shown on the x - axis and the bbb score is shown on the y - axis . error bars represent standard error of the mean . the beneficial effects of the salmon fibrin at the earliest timepoint suggest hemostasis and sparing of axonal fibers . this graph shows significant functional recovery in animals treated with the salmon fibrin . this result is further supported by fig6 , which shows the average volume of urine manually expressed from bladders of the rats treated with salmon or human fibrin after the t9 hemisection injury . a lower volume of urine correlates with better bladder function . fig7 shows an image of spinal cords of animals treated with salmon fibrin two days post - surgery , stained with antibodies to salmon fibrin ( red ), glia ( astrocytes ) for gfap ( glial fibrillary acidic protein ) ( green ), and cell nucli stained with hoechst ( blue ). as shown , reactive astrocytes are confined to the periphery of the lesion and do not infiltrate the fibrin gel . fig8 shows an image of spinal cords of animals treated with salmon fibrin 2 days post - surgery , stained with antibodies to salmon fibrin ( green ), axons with neurofilament - h ( an axon marker ) ( red ) and cell nuclei with hoechst ( blue ). as shown , axons surround the salmon fibrin at the lesion site , a sign of cns recovery . fig9 shows an image of spinal cords of animals treated with salmon fibrin 5 days post - surgery , stained with antibodies to salmon fibrin ( red ), axons with neurofilament - h ( green ), and cell nuclei with hoechst ( blue ). as shown , axons surround the salmon fibrin at the lesion site , a sign of cns recovery . fig1 shows an image of sections of spinal cords of injured rats , stained with a gfap antibody to detect glial scar formation . a greater degree of glial scar is evident in sections from control animals compared to animals treated with salmon fibrin ( the images are matched exposures ). as shown in fig1 , the degree of glial scar formation in injured spinal cords was analyzed by measuring the amount of gfap staining in ˜ 0 . 04 mm 2 regions along the lesion . n = 8 animals per condition ; staining intensity was normalized to unlesioned areas for each section . as shown , application of salmon fibrin produces less glial scarring and better functional recovery than use of human fibrin . adult rats were anesthetized , subjected to a dorsal hemisection spinal cord lesion ( grill et al . 1997 ), and treated with human and salmon fibrin gels of equal stiffness ( georges et al . 2006 ). the animals were injected at the lesion site with either 3 mg / ml salmon fibrin or 3 mg / ml human fibrin ( tisseal ), or received no treatment . both the salmon fibrin and the human fibrin were applied by simultaneous injection of 3 mg / ml fibrinogen and 1 . 5 units thrombin . after treatment , the animals were sutured and allowed to recover from surgery . the animals were not treated with immunosuppressive drugs , and received manual bladder care post - surgery until bladder function recovered . function post - surgery as defined by locomotor behavior was assessed by bbb testing ( basso et al 1996 ) beginning one day after surgery and continuing until ˜ 11 weeks post - surgery . sensory function was assessed ˜ 10 weeks post - surgery . bbb testing — the animals treated with salmon fibrin performed better than those treated with human fibrin or untreated controls . repeated measures of analysis of variance ( anova ) statistical analysis shows that the salmon fibrin group was significantly different from the control group ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) while the human fibrin group was not ( p = 0 . 276 ). the bbb results also suggest that the beneficial effect of the salmon fibrin occurred early , since the salmon fibrin group was significantly different from controls at the earliest time point ( 1 day after treatment , p & lt ; 0 . 01 ). ( fig5 ) bladder function — animals treated with salmon fibrin recovered bladder function more rapidly than those treated with human fibrin or untreated controls . 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