UK scientists have found a way to deliver drugs to the brain using ultrasound.
Teams at King’s College London, and Imperial College London, discovered that by applying rapid short pulses of ultrasound, they could deliver liposomes – used as drug carriers to delivery drugs to specific tissues - to the brain of a mouse.
Researchers have been searching for ways to deliver drugs to the brain safely to treat brain diseases, however the blood-brain barrier restricts the entry of molecules to the brain.
“Our other key finding was the ability to study the liposomes being delivered to different types of neuronal cells showing the liposomes are taken up by these targets and can be used to treat the diseases associated with these cells,” said Aishwarya Mishra of King's.
The findings were published in the Journal of Controlled Release.