Researchers at Columbia University have developed a new approach to deliver drugs safely to precise locations in the brain using ultrasound and microbubbles injected into the blood stream.
The blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain from infections, makes it difficult to get drugs to treat neurological conditions where they need to. Now, the non-invasive technique called focused ultrasound will allow drugs to effectively treat brain conditions by crossing the blood-brain barrier.
The approach doesn’t require intraoperative MRI imaging and has proved successful in treating mice with early Parkinson’s disease in trials, says the study published in Journal of Controlled Release.
Research lead Elisa Konofagou said, “This is the first time that anyone has been able to restore a dopaminergic pathway with available drugs at the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. We were able to curb the rapid progression of neurodegeneration while improving neuronal function. We expect that our study will open new therapeutic avenues for the early treatment of central nervous system diseases.”
