The human brain is protected by something called the blood-brain barrier – a layer of cells bound together to keep toxins, bacteria and viruses out. That could explain why more than 300 drugs that removed plaques clogging the brains of laboratory animals didn’t work well in people.
“And part of the hypothesis as to why those drugs didn’t work is that they didn’t get into the brain in adequate concentrations,” says Dr. Neal Cassell, director of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation in Charlottesville.
That non-profit has funded studies showing the impact of focused sound waves on that barrier.
“Focused ultrasound can reversibly, temporarily open the blood-brain barrier and allow the drugs to get in,” Cassell explains.
That could open the door to more successful drug treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. But wait – there’s more. A report in the Journal of Neurosurgery shows just opening the blood-brain barrier with focused ultrasound lowered the amount of amyloid plaque in patients’ brains.
“The reduction in the amyloid plaque was confirmed with PET scanning,” says Cassell.
There was no change in patients’ ability to remember or to cope with complex subjects, but five of the six patients studied had fewer psychiatric problems associated with Alzheimer’s -- irritability, anxiety and mood swings. Cassell hopes a follow-up study with people in the early stages of the disease will begin here in Virginia sometime this year, but recruiting of patients has not yet begun.
For more information go to https://www.fusfoundation.org
