Zurich researchers can control gas bubbles through the brain
Published: Thursday, Dec 7th 2023, 10:40
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Researchers can control small gas bubbles in the brain using sound waves. In the future, the bubbles could be equipped with medication to bring them to the right place in the brain, as announced by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) and the University of Zurich (UZH) on Thursday.
According to the universities, scientists have high hopes for the possibility of depositing drugs in the brain in a more targeted manner at a narrowly defined site of action in the future.
Until now, drugs for brain diseases such as brain tumors, cerebral hemorrhages and mental illnesses have often had severe side effects because they circulate throughout the brain's convoluted blood supply.
Researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich have now succeeded for the first time in navigating gas bubbles in the brain of a mouse using ultrasound.
Against the direction of flow
To do this, the researchers injected the bubbles into the bloodstream of the mice. To control them, they attached small energy converters to the mice's heads to generate sound waves.
Using these, they were able to move the vesicles against the direction of blood flow and navigate them into the finest ramifications of the blood vessels, as the scientists demonstrated in a study published in the journal "Nature Communications".
In the next step, the researchers want to attach drug molecules to the outside of the vesicles, as reported by UZH and ETH Zurich. Ultimately, they want to further develop the process so that it will also work in human brains in the future.
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