Protects Cells from Alcohol Toxicity

Silver seems to neutralize the damage to cells caused by ethanol alcohol – google image 

In the article at this link, you’ll learn that researchers from the Department of Cell Biology, Immunology and Neurosciences of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, along with researchers from several other institutes, have discovered that very small numbers of silver atoms can protect cells against damage caused by ethanol.

The most obvious use for this discovery is in aiding the healing of damage to cells and tissues caused by alcoholism.

According to the article:

The results of the study show that these clusters of small numbers of silver atoms catalyze ethanol oxidation at similar concentrations to those found in the blood of alcoholics and at values of membrane potential and pH that are compatible with those exhibited by mammalian cells,” explains Gustavo Egea, a professor with the Department of Cell Biology, Immunology and Neurosciences of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona.

In other words, silver seems to neutralize the damage to cells caused by ethanol alcohol. Again, according to the article:

Alcohol has particularly harmful effects on nerve cells, and in the specific case of astrocytes it induces programmed cell-death and an alteration of the actin cytoskeleton.

Following application of the silver nanoparticles to ethanol-exposed cells, the actin cytoskeleton shows marked improvements and cell-death does not occur.

“So, the harmful effect of ethanol on astrocytes is mitigated by the silver nanoparticles, which act as a cytoprotective agent,” explains Javier Selva, a lecturer with the Department of Cell Biology, Immunology and Neuroscience and first author of the paper.

 The silver protects the cells – google image

Of course, the term “cytoprotective agent” means the silver protects the cells. 

The article continues:

The study combines analysis of the electrocatalytic properties of silver nanoparticles with examination of their potential biological applications.

“This is a promising field in electrochemistry applied to cell biology, which harnesses the different properties of nanoparticles formed by very small numbers of atoms, referred to generically as atomic clusters,” explains Gustavo Egea.

The article concludes:

The authors have also found that the [silver] nanoparticles prevent alterations induced by other primary alcohols such as methanol and butanol…

So, silver can help protect cells from damage caused by other primary alcohols, as well as ethanol.

This new discovery regarding the protective effects of silver on cells exposed to excessive amounts of alcohol may one day even help in mitigating the serious disabilities in babies affected by fetal alcohol syndrome…

…”a disease that develops in some unborn babies when the mother consumes excessive levels of alcohol and which leads to a range of severe neurological disorders.”

Nothing New Under the Sun

Pure Nano Silver Kentary

Of course, for those who have studied the healing power of silver for any length of time, this new information comes as no surprise.

In fact, back in the early 1980’s, it was Dr. Robert O. Becker, M.D., of Syracuse Medical University, who documented the fact that electrically generated silver ions have the remarkable ability to trigger tissue healing in wounds, and even cause cancerous cells to revert to non-cancerous cells.

Silver sulfadiazine cream was also developed during the 1980s. This is a prescription silver-based cream also known as Silvadene. It’s been used for decades now in hospitals and medical clinics to prevent infection and to trigger healing of cells and tissues in the skin of severe burn victims.

What’s more, the above-referenced study on the cell-protective effects of silver nanoparticles comes on the heels of another study from last year…

…which demonstrated that silver nanoparticles can also help prevent blood clotting without causing harm to blood cells.

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