Ultrasound application in brain disease treatment:research progress / 国际药学研究杂志

ABSTRACT

Because of the blood-brain barrier (BBB)and the lack of significant enhancement method for the drug penetration into and retention in brain, effective methods and drugs for the treatment of brain diseases are extremely limited. Ultrasound can effec tively, safely and reversibly open the BBB and thus is an ideal method for the targeted, non-invasive drug entry into the intracranial tis sue, which has been expected to become a new means for treating brain diseases in the near future. Following a brief introduction of some biological characteristics of brain, this review elaborates the mechanisms of the ultrasound combining microbubbles(USMB)for brain targeted drug delivery, including the opening of the tight junction, stimulation of endocytosis, inhibition of multidrug resistance protein expression, enhancement of drug concentration in target area, extension of the residence time, and adjustment of the intersti tial pressure in target tissue. Then, the application of ultrasound in the treatment of some diseases including the Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease(HD), Parkinson's disease(PD), and brain tumors are summarized, and the existing problems in the ul trasound therapy are also discussed, in order to provide a valuable reference for further improvement in the treatment of brain diseases.