It is almost impossible to deliver targeted drug therapy via the bloodstream without reaching the entire brain and body leading to side effects. To address this issue, scientists at ETH Zurich developed a method based on concentrating and releasing drugs with pinpoint accuracy to medically desirable areas.
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"What we're doing is using pulses of ultrasound essentially to create a virtual cage from sound waves around the desired site. As the blood circulates, it flushes the drug carriers through the whole brain. But the ones that enter the cage can't get back out," says Mehmet Fatih Yanik, Professor of Neurotechnology. "Because our method aggregates drugs at the site in the brain where their effect is desired, we don't need nearly as high a dose.”
Findings were published in the journal Nature Communications and discusses how they utilized much lower energy levels that do not damage tissue. "In our approach, the physiological barrier between the bloodstream and nervous tissue remains intact," Yanik says.
Source: Science Daily
