Nitric oxide, the catalyst for Viagra's magic, has a number of other important functions in the body. It's been established that NO can stimulate healing (besides sexual healing, wise guy). NO has properties that combat bacteria, stimulate immune response, and promote healing in wounds, and it's ideal for tough-to-treat MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) infections. The problem is that it's a gas, and so far there hasn't been a good way to deliver it to the site of an infection.Welcome to the world of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are - well, the most important thing about them is that they're really, really, really tiny, so they can go places bigger particles can't. Now researchers have developed NO-releasing nanoparticles that can penetrate skin, where they unleash that NO like scrubbing bubbles on infected soft tissue.
Oh, yeah - and the nanoparticles had one other interesting effect in lab tests: they caused rats to get erections. Bonus.
So, how do you think the researchers came up with that bright idea? One of the co-authors of the paper describing the study "notes that, beyond the antimicrobial and wound healing applications, the important role of nitric oxide in maintaining vascular health also lead to the team's testing of the efficacy of NO nanoparticles in addressing conditions associated with endothelial dysfunctions."
Translation: "We know what Viagra does, so we thought we'd give it a shot and see if this worked too."
"NO nanoparticles were shown to increase erectile function when applied topically to the penis of rats...and even more importantly, in a post-radical prostatectomy animal model with cavernous nerve transection - a clinical scenario in which PDE-5 inhibitors (Viagra) are ineffective."
Sorry. Now you all need a little brain bleach to expunge the image of some unfortunate lab assistant tasked with applying this stuff to rat genitalia, but the takeaway is that it may be able to get the job done even when Viagra can't - giving hope to those whose erectile dysfunction is Viagra-resistant.
I could see the development of NO-delivering nanoparticles having a similar trajectory to that of Viagra: a drug developed for one purpose that turns out to be wildly effective at something much more compelling. Oh, sure, saving lives is great and all, but face it, stiff erections trump staph infections.
