Posted 21/03/2011
In an experiment with mice, researchers at the University of Oxford, England, used their own "vehicles" body, exosomes to to deliver drugs to the brain.
According to scientists, who published their study in Nature Biotechnology, the breakthrough could be vital for the development of treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and muscular dystrophy. Crossing
brain barrier
One of the major medical challenges in diseases of the brain is how to ensure that any treatment hemotencefálica cross the barrier.
The function of this barrier, located between blood vessels and central nervous system is to prevent the passage of substances toxic to the brain, while allowing the passage of oxygen and nutrients.
This, however, has caused enormous problems for medicine because the drugs may also be blocked by the barrier.
In research, the scientists used a vescículas, called exosomes, to cross the barrier.
Exosomes are their own "fleet" of vehicles tiny body in charge of transporting materials from one cell to another.
Oxford team exosomes from dendritic cells cultured from mice.
Dendritic cells are part of the immune system and are responsible for naturally produce large amounts of exosomes. Researchers fused
exosomes with protein taken from the rabies virus that can bind to receptors on neurons, so they could travel to the brain.
and injected, along with a genetic code, back to the mice.
The results showed that the injection was able to disable a gene called BACE1, which is believed to be involved in the development of AD.
The study showed a 60% reduction in activity of this gene.
"These results are dramatic and very exciting," said Dr. Matthew Wood, who led the study.
"It's the first time successfully exploited this system to transport natural medicines," he said.
Tailored
The researchers believe the method could be modified to treat various diseases in other parts of the body.
"We are working on sending exosomes muscle, but imagine sending any tissue. And it can be more specific if you change the medication used," says Dr. Wood.
Scientists now plan to test the treatment on mice with Alzheimer's to see if the disorder has changes.
and hope to begin trials in human patients within five years. As expressed
Dr. Susanne Sorensen, Alzheimer's Society organization, "if this method proves to be safe in humans, in the future we may get to have more effective medications available for patients with Alzheimer's. "
For his part, Dr. Simon Ridley, head of research at the Alzheimer's Research UK, said:" This is a innovative research, but we are still in the preliminary stages and a long way to go before we can have a treatment for patients. "
" The design of drugs that can cross the barrier hemotencefálica is a key objective of the research that promises improvement in the effectiveness of treatments for Alzheimer's disease in the future, "added the expert.
Source: BBC
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