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A handful of patients with Alzheimer's disease engaged in a daring experiment: they let scientists direct sound waves into the brain to temporarily agitate an opening in their protective shield
Researchers Canadians reported Wednesday that the technology called focused ultrasound can drill holes safely in this barrier – quickly sealed holes. save. It's a step toward a day that uses the non-invasive device to get the brain treatments going.
"The major goal of neuroscience for decades is to provide a safe and reversible way to cross the blood-brain barrier. said Dr. Nir Lipsman, a neurosurgeon at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto who led the study.
The findings were presented at the International Conference of the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago and published Wednesday in Nature Communications.
This first-stage research, conducted in only six people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's, has not tested potential therapies; his goal was to check whether the patients' fragile blood vessels could withstand the breach without bleeding or other side effects.
& # 39; Certainly Promising & # 39;
More safety testing is needed but "it's certainly promising," says Dr. Eliezer Masliah of the US National Institute on Aging, who was not involved in the program. ;study.
"What is remarkable is that they can do it in a very targeted way, they can target a very specific brain region."
Alzheimer's is not the only target. A similar safety study is underway in Lou Gehrig's disease. And researchers are testing whether the tool is helping more chemotherapy reach the right place in people with a deadly brain tumor called glioblastoma.
"We do not want to open the blood-brain barrier widely everywhere we want to open the blood-brain barrier where we want the treatment to be delivered," said Dr. Graeme Woodworth of the University Medical Center. of Maryland to Lead Brain Tumor Study to Begin shortly
Scientists have long since tried different approaches to blood-brain barrier with little success Blood vessels in the brain are lined with cells that form tight junctions , almost like a zipper.The barrier allows the selection of small molecules.
Often, treatments for brain diseases are too big to pbad easily.
"This is not painful or whatever it is »
The new approach: scientists inject microscopic bubbles into the bloodstream and, thanks to an MRI scanner, they t then emit ultrasonic waves through a helmet-like device at that location. The pulsations of energy make the microbubbles vibrate, releasing these junctions similar to zippers in the hope that the drugs can slip there.
Within minutes, the Lipsman team saw a medical dye appear on brain scans of Alzheimer's patients. A repeat badysis the next day showed that it was closed again. The patients repeated the procedure a month later.
The researchers reported no serious side effects and no deterioration of cognitive function. The study was funded by the non-profit Foundation Focused Ultrasound Foundation
This photo from the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center shows images of the patient's brain Rick Karr, the first patient with Alzheimer's . [Kevin Van Pabaden / Centre Sunnybrook des sciences de la santé par AP]
"This is not painful or anything," said Rick Karr, of Everett, Ontario, first participant of the study
. Karr was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2011. The doctors said the study would not address his memory problems, but "I feel privileged," Karr said in an interview.
"I could help someone else." 19659008] Other Ultrasonic Uses
A French company, CarThera, is testing a different ultrasound technique for brain tumors, using an implant attached to the skull during surgery.
For noninvasive ultrasound, the device manufacturer InSightec This time, scientists will go further in the brains affected by Alzheimer's disease to a key region of memory, said senior researcher Dr. Ali Rezai of Rockefeller at West Virginia University. N Euroscience Institute. And they will measure whether the mere fact of opening the barrier could help the body eliminate the sticky plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer's, after studies on the mouse suggested that it was a possibility
. If studies of the next stage conclude, it is safe to try.
"The blood-brain barrier is no longer prohibited," said Rezai.
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