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Researchers have discovered a new potential approach to delivering therapies more effectively to the brain.
The results, performed on mice, have shown that the research could have implications for the treatment of a wide range of diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and brain cancer.
"Improving drug delivery to the central nervous system is a considerable clinical challenge," said lead author Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) in the United States.
"The results of this study demonstrate that the brain's waste disposal system could be exploited to transport drugs quickly and efficiently into the brain," added Nedergaard.
The study harnesses the power of the glymphatic system, the unique process of eliminating brain waste, discovered by Nedergaard in 2012.
It is a plumbing system that grafts on the blood vessels of the brain and pumps the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) into the brain tissue, thus removing the waste.
In the study, published in the journal JCI Insight, researchers took advantage of the mechanisms of the glymphatic system to administer drugs deep in the brain.
The team administered antibodies directly into the CSF. They then injected the animals with hypertonic saline, a treatment frequently used to reduce intracranial pressure in patients with traumatic brain injury.
Saline triggers an ionic imbalance that pulls the CSF from the brain. When this happens, a new LCR delivered by the glymphatic system arrives to take its place, driving the antibodies into the brain tissue, said the team.
The researchers developed a new imaging system by customizing a macroscope to non-invasively observe the proliferation of antibodies in the animals' brains.
They think that this method could be used not only to inject into the brain large proteins such as antibodies, but also small molecule drugs and viruses used for gene therapies.
–IANS
vc / prs
(This story has not been changed by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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