They can also damage the
blood-brain barrier - the normally tight border that prevents harmful molecules in the bloodstream from entering the brain.
Various strategies that have been used for manipulating the
blood-brain barrier for drug delivery to the brain include osmotic and chemical opening of the
blood-brain barrier as well as the use of transport/carrier systems.
The
blood-brain barrier acts as a gatekeeper by blocking toxins and other foreign substances in the bloodstream from entering brain tissue and damaging it.
However, scientists duplicated a critical brain structure, the
blood-brain barrier (BBB), which functions as it would in the individual who donated the cells to make it.
With the appointment of Dr Freskgard, BioArctic further strengthens its capabilities in the neuroscience therapeutic area, antibody engineering and
blood-brain barrier competence.
The
blood-brain barrier is comprised of high-density cells which restrict the passage of substances in the body from the bloodstream.
Eos also has several additional programs under development, including targeting therapeutics across the
blood-brain barrier and packaging and delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics, including mRNA, RNAi, and oligonucleotides, as well as peptides and proteins.
Team leader Patrick Hsieh said glioblastoma is one of the most common and aggressive brain cancers in the world and has a five-year survival rate of less than 10 percent due to fast tumor progression and the lack of an efficient method of getting chemotherapy medicine through the
blood-brain barrier. The results in the tests on pigs are a positive sign that the technique can be successfully applied to humans, he added.
'If the
blood-brain barrier is not working properly, then there is the potential for damage,' said co-author Dr Arthur Toga, director of the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute at the Keck School of Medicine.
[ClickPress, Tue Oct 16 2018]
Blood-brain barrier is the lining of endothelial cells covering the capillaries of the brain.
This will enable scientists to study the body's systemic response to any chemical introduced into the model, including how it metabolizes in the liver, and how it penetrates into the brain through the
blood-brain barrier.
The
blood-brain barrier. Exp Physiol 1993;78:453-472.
Opening the
blood-brain barrier using MRI-guided ultrasound could make it easier to send medicine to the brain, including targeted areas of the brain.
THURSDAY, July 26, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- A new approach to getting drugs through the
blood-brain barrier in Alzheimer's patients shows early promise, according to a study published online July 25 in Nature Communications.
They then tested these for their ability to cross the
blood-brain barrier in mice.