MAY 20, 2008--Syngene (Frederick, MD, USA; www.syngene.com/), a manufacturer of image-analysis solutions, has announced that Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC; Lebanon, NH, USA; www.dhmc.org) is improving detection of proteins associated with spinal-cord injuries using a G:BOX Chemi HR16--Syngene's fluorescence and chemiluminescence image analyzer. Scientists in the department of anesthesiology at the DHMC are using a G:BOX Chemi HR16, supplied by New England BioGroup (Syngene's exclusive representative in New England), to image Western blots of HRP-labeled proteins that are involved in inflammatory processes, (p-ERK, total-ERK, MKP1, NOS2, IL-1 and TNFa) isolated from neonatal cortical microglial cells treated with new drugs, postperipheral nerve injury. By identifying a protein's presence, DHMC researchers hope to determine which drugs most effectively treat the pain caused by peripheral nerve injury.
Edgar Alfonso Romero-Sandoval, instructor of anesthesiology at the DHMC, explained: "Pain following peripheral nerve injury often responds poorly to available therapies, which is why we are looking at new drugs to treat it. To do this we use expensive rat primary cell cultures that yield little protein and were using a laser scanner to image our Westerns but could not detect the microgram amounts of proteins we had, as there was so much background."
Romero-Sandoval added: "We switched to a G:BOX Chemi HR16 because it allows us to adjust exposure conditions, (something we couldn't do with our laser scanner) to detect these tiny protein amounts. Using a G:BOX Chemi HR16 has improved the sensitivity of imaging our Western blots so much, we have been able to reduce the detecting antibody concentration by 2-4 fold and significantly lowered reagent costs. Additionally, with a G:BOX we can strip our membranes several times and are still able to detect different proteins using the same blot derived from the same experiment and cell culture."
