Medical Journal asks: Are prion proteins and magnetite involved in Covid?

[TradGranny]

What is mgnetite and how is it related to prion proteins and Covid?

Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe3O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself.[5][6] It is the most magnetic of all the naturally occurring minerals on Earth

Medical Hypotheses Journal asks:
Are prion proteins and magnetite involved in the immune cells memory system connected to the covid?


Elsevier
Medical Hypotheses
Volume 150, May 2021, 110563
Are prion proteins and magnetite involved in the immune cells memory system connected to the covid-19?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110563


. . .  A combination of nanomagnetite crystal chains and prions are involved in a tandem mechanism in which the magnetite amplifies and reshapes electrical pulses to a form that can be accepted for storage by the prions [3], [4]. These crystals are only magnetic in the presence of a magnetic field. If this is removed, the magnetism of the crystals disappear. Therefore the information cannot be stored in the magnetite chains, but in the prions. In connection to Covid-19 it would be of great interest to find out whether prions and magnetite are involved in the memory mechanism of the T and B cells.

https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0306987721000815?token=2539224735280F63ECB48A330AC406F7E5FFE93876DD32DD5F5415500D42C9DCD3542931B05379C1411929CE2D2664B6&originRegion=us-east-1&originCreation=20210603003823

[Insanis]

These crystals are only magnetic in the presence of a magnetic field.

The post is largely above my understanding of the background, but this phrase is weird: the magnetic field is "magnetism". Magnetism is the presence of magnetic fields.

[TradGranny]

These crystals are only magnetic in the presence of a magnetic field.

The post is largely above my understanding of the background, but this phrase is weird: the magnetic field is "magnetism". Magnetism is the presence of magnetic fields.

repeat

[TradGranny]

These crystals are only magnetic in the presence of a magnetic field.

The post is largely above my understanding of the background, but this phrase is weird: the magnetic field is "magnetism". Magnetism is the presence of magnetic fields.

Hi Insanis,

It may be that an electric field is necessary for the prions to activate the magnetic effect in the potentially magnetic material.

As a child, we used to make a plain piece of metal into a magnet by stroking the plain metal with a strong magnet. The plain metal then became magnetized itself (it then worked as a magnet). So something can become magnetized.

[Insanis]

It may be that an electric field is necessary for the prions to activate the magnetic effect in the potentially magnetic material.

Electric fields and magnetic fields are different. They are related, but distinct. Radio waves are oscillating electric fields and magnetic fields (at right angles to each other).

As a child, we used to make a plain piece of metal into a magnet by stroking the plain metal with a strong magnet. The plain metal then became magnetized itself (it then worked as a magnet). So something can become magnetized.

Yes, but the phrase was weird. It is like something can only be wet in the presence of water (or any wetting substance). I was just noticing the odd phrase. I'm not sure how it relates to the rest of the report.

You can also create a magnet if you align the item with magnetic north, and hit it (if it is the right material). It is difficult to make a strong magnetic this way, but it can create a noticeable effect in a typical steel screwdriver. I've done that. These days though, I'd rather not have magnetic tools unless they are supposed to be.

Electromagnetism is neat, but I was just noting the odd phrase. It wasn't wrong, just weird.

[TradGranny]

Thank you for clarifying, Mr. I. (I don't like calling you Insanis as you are smart and healthy).

[TradGranny]

Genetically engineered 'Magneto' protein remotely controls brain and behaviour

Researchers in the United States have developed a new method for controlling the brain circuits associated with complex animal behaviours, using genetic engineering to create a magnetised protein that activates specific groups of nerve cells from a distance.

Understanding how the brain generates behaviour is one of the ultimate goals of neuroscience – and one of its most difficult questions. In recent years, researchers have developed a number of methods that enable them to remotely control specified groups of neurons and to probe the workings of neuronal circuits.

The most powerful of these is a method called optogenetics, which enables researchers to switch populations of related neurons on or off on a millisecond-by-millisecond timescale with pulses of laser light. Another recently developed method, called chemogenetics, uses engineered proteins that are activated by designer drugs and can be targeted to specific cell types.

Although powerful, both of these methods have drawbacks. Optogenetics is invasive, requiring insertion of optical fibres that deliver the light pulses into the brain and, furthermore, the extent to which the light penetrates the dense brain tissue is severely limited. Chemogenetic approaches overcome both of these limitations, but typically induce biochemical reactions that take several seconds to activate nerve cells.


The new technique, developed in Ali Güler's lab at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and described in an advance online publication in the journal Nature Neuroscience, is not only non-invasive, but can also activate neurons rapidly and reversibly.

Several earlier studies have shown that nerve cell proteins which are activated by heat and mechanical pressure can be genetically engineered so that they become sensitive to radio waves and magnetic fields, by attaching them to an iron-storing protein called ferritin, or to inorganic paramagnetic particles. These methods represent an important advance – they have, for example, already been used to regulate blood glucose levels in mice – but involve multiple components which have to be introduced separately.

The new technique builds on this earlier work, and is based on a protein called TRPV4, which is sensitive to both temperature and stretching forces. These stimuli open its central pore, allowing electrical current to flow through the cell membrane; this evokes nervous impulses that travel into the spinal cord and then up to the brain.

Güler and his colleagues reasoned that magnetic torque (or rotating) forces might activate TRPV4 by tugging open its central pore, and so they used genetic engineering to fuse the protein to the paramagnetic region of ferritin, together with short DNA sequences that signal cells to transport proteins to the nerve cell membrane and insert them into it.

When they introduced this genetic construct into human embryonic kidney cells growing in Petri dishes, the cells synthesized the 'Magneto' protein and inserted it into their membrane. Application of a magnetic field activated the engineered TRPV1 protein, as evidenced by transient increases in calcium ion concentration within the cells, which were detected with a fluorescence microscope.

Next, the researchers inserted the Magneto DNA sequence into the genome of a virus, together with the gene encoding green fluorescent protein, and regulatory DNA sequences that cause the construct to be expressed only in specified types of neurons. They then injected the virus into the brains of mice, targeting the entorhinal cortex, and dissected the animals' brains to identify the cells that emitted green fluorescence. Using microelectrodes, they then showed that applying a magnetic field to the brain slices activated Magneto so that the cells produce nervous impulses.

To determine whether Magneto can be used to manipulate neuronal activity in live animals, they injected Magneto into zebrafish larvae, targeting neurons in the trunk and tail that normally control an escape response. They then placed the zebrafish larvae into a specially-built magnetised aquarium, and found that exposure to a magnetic field induced coiling manouvres similar to those that occur during the escape response. (This experiment involved a total of nine zebrafish larvae, and subsequent analyses revealed that each larva contained about 5 neurons expressing Magneto.)


In one final experiment, the researchers injected Magneto into the striatum of freely behaving mice, a deep brain structure containing dopamine-producing neurons that are involved in reward and motivation, and then placed the animals into an apparatus split into magnetised a non-magnetised sections. Mice expressing Magneto spent far more time in the magnetised areas than mice that did not, because activation of the protein caused the striatal neurons expressing it to release dopamine, so that the mice found being in those areas rewarding. This shows that Magneto can remotely control the firing of neurons deep within the brain, and also control complex behaviours.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2016/mar/24/magneto-remotely-controls-brain-and-behaviour