Researchers at the University of Paris and colleagues fed the molecule fullerene (C60 or “buckyballs”) dissolved in olive oil to rats and found it almost doubles their lifespan, with no chronic toxicity.

It is perhaps reasonable that this structure of C60 is proving to be fundamentally beneficial in many biological and medicinal ways.

Some may see the rational symmetry in the shape and it's apparent harmonious way our physiology may make use of it.

Fullerenes are remarkable.

Pharmacokinetic studies show that dissolved C60 is absorbed by the gastro-intestinal tract and eliminated in a few tens of hours.

“These results of importance in the fields of medicine and toxicology should open the way for the many possible biomedical applications of C60 including cancer therapy, neurodegenerative disorders, and aging,” the researcher suggest.

“C60 can be administered orally, and as it is now produced in tons, it is no longer necessary to resort to its water-soluble derivatives, which are difficult to purify and, in contrast to pristine C60, may be toxic.

The alanine transferase (a liver enzyme used to judge the "workload" of organ) and the ratio of oxidized (GSSG) to total glutathione (TGSH), where lower levels are indicative of less oxidative damage, in figure 1 (right) and figure 2 (left) and probably even more evidently, the images of the livers of the CCl4 intoxicated rodents clearly indicate that C60 is probably one of the most potent liver-protectants we know. In that,


[t]he number of necrotic areas observed in the liver sections of [intra-peritoneally treated, i.p.] animals was significantly lower than that observed in the [orally treated animals]. As C60
concentrations in the livers of [i.p. treated] animals are probably about 10 times higher than those of the livers of [orally treated animals], these results confirm the dose effect relationship
reported previously (Gharbi. 2005).

C60 fullerene: shipments from 500 grams to 20 kg at 14 €/g;

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by boncho

---

Cheaper than coc aine!

Very interesting find this, I will definitely keep an eye on it.

I do remember a few years ago that there proposed using these as containers to transport drugs into body, or another treatment that was being researched was using carbon nanotubes, injected into a cancerous tumour, then hitting it with IR, heating the nanotubes and killing the cells... Not sure what came of that..

Internalization of C60 fullerenes into cancer cells with accumulation in the nucleus via the nuclear pore complex.

Originally posted by Maxmars
Interestingly, the Material Safety and Data Sheet (MSDS) makes it sound toxic.... but not overly so....

Makes one wonder who determined this.. and whether their cautionary claims are for the sake of liability as opposed to reality...

[[[oh well -I tried to link the MSDS sheet... but you can find a link for it below...]]]


PS - it can be bought pure.... for a very high price.... www.sigmaaldrich.com...®ion=US

edit on 17-4-2012 by Maxmars because: (no reason given)

edit on 17-4-2012 by Maxmars because: (no reason given)

Acute toxicity (oral, dermal, inhalation), category 4
Skin irritation, category 2
Eye irritation, category 2
Skin sensitisation, category 1
Specific Target Organ Toxicity – Single exposure, category 3

Makes one wonder who determined this.. and whether their cautionary claims are for the sake of liability as opposed to reality...