Ultrasound-mediated strategies in opening brain barriers for drug brain delivery

Abstract

Introduction: Though many agents have therapeutic potentials for brain diseases, few have been used in clinical environments because of the brain barriers. As an effective interventional technique, ultrasound (US) could be a potentially feasible approach to disrupt the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and deliver therapeutic agents into the brain.

Areas covered: This article reviews up-to-date ultrasound-mediated strategies in opening the brain barriers for drug brain delivery. The mechanisms and problems of these approaches are discussed, as well as the challenges and potentials associated with the ultrasound-mediated strategies that are currently available or under development.

Expert opinion: Despite recent successes in opening the blood brain barrier (BBB) via microbubble-enhanced focused ultrasound, the exact mechanisms of how the barrier is disrupted, remains unknown. A complete understanding of the mechanisms involved in the ultrasound-mediated disruption of the BBB and improving the efficiency of drug delivery to targeted brain regions can greatly facilitate the successful development and translation of the technology.

Keywords::

• blood-brain barrier
• mechanism
• strategies
• ultrasound-mediated BBB disruption

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Funds (Grant No. 81272160), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. LY12H30003), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 7112100), Scientific Research Joint Funds of Health Ministry and Zhejiang Province (Grant No. WKJ2011-2-010), Medicine Grant from Wenzhou Bureau of Science and Technology (Grant No. Y20090016, H20110008, Y20110034, S20100049, H20100017 and Y20100029), Zhejiang Provincial Foundation for Health Department (Grant No. 2011ZDA017, 2012KYB126 and 2012KYA134), Zhejiang Provincial Foundation for Education Department (Grant No. Y201016664), Zhejiang Provincial Project of Key Scientific Group (Grant No. 2010R50042 and 2012R10042-06), Major Scientific Project of Guangdong Province(Grant No. 2012A080201010), Grant from Lishui Bureau of Science and Technology (Grant No. 2011JYZB34).

Notes

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