Spherix Inc.of Beltsville, MD, announced it had been awarded a U.S. patent for addition of tagatose to fluids used to preserve cadaver organs that are being retrieved and transported for use in transplantation.

Studies in Switzerland have shown tagatose to be "a powerful cytoprotective agent against chemically induced cell injury" that protects liver cells from oxidative damage and cellular death.

The studies were performed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, and the University of Zurich, and were published in 1998 ("Antioxidant and Cytoprotective Properties of D-Tagatose in Cultured Murine Hepatocytes," Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 148, 117-125, 1998).

Other sources: Spherix