You Might Look Like A Smurf, But At Least You Can Walk.

Aaaaw, he looks cold.

Want to know how they did it?

Scientists accidentally found out that Brilliant Blue G (BBG), a blue food dye, can be used to treat spinal cord injuries.

Spinal cord injuries occur when the spinal cord has been harmed in some way, causing swelling. The swelling blocks blood flow which leads to nerve cell death. Neurons also die from stress incurred by the sudden release of ATP (energy molecules) causing overstimulation. To prevent this, scientists figured they can simply block ATP receptors. However, there was no known compound that existed.

BBG is very similar to one type of ATP receptor. BBG is commonly used and FDA approved. A benefit is that it can cross blood-brain barrier, i.e. you don't have to riskily inject into the spine itself, you can simply go through the bloodstream.

Moving on to blue rats. Rats with spinal cord injuries given BBG infusion showed to recover much faster than control rats. BBG rats still had a limp, but were able to walk after 6wks of treatment, unlike control rats who never regained that ability. Also, they turned very blue.

As with any animal trials, more research needs to be done...the injured mice were treated 15 minutes after they were hurt, something unrealistic for people. Also, we don't know how blue (if any) they will turn. Maybe they will look tinged to the girl from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Or a smurf.