Study shows new, more precise way to transport drugs into the brain

Researchers at Houston Methodist College have discovered a more precise and timely method to deliver life-saving drug therapies to the brain, laying the foundation for more effective treatment of brain tumors and other neurological diseases.

In a study entitled “Electrokinetic convection-enhanced delivery for brain infusion from a hydrogel reservoir,” published in Communication biologyThe researchers used an electric field to inject drugs from a reservoir outside the brain to specific targets in the brain.

This brings a new dimension to the 30-year-old technique of injecting therapeutics into the brain using convection-assisted delivery (CED), which uses continuous pressure over a prolonged period of time to inject a therapeutic fluid into the brain. Because CED takes the path of least resistance, therapeutics do not always hit the target.

By incorporating an electric field into the process – called electrokinetic convection-assisted delivery, or ECED – surgeons can more precisely target the delivery route and potentially better cover brain lesions and tumors.

“Delivery of therapeutics via ECED has many potential applications,” said Dr. Amir Faraji, principal investigator and neurosurgeon at Houston Methodist.

“It has the potential to improve gene therapy and tumor treatment, as well as the treatment of traumatic brain injury and degenerative diseases – so many situations where we need to target vital treatments more precisely to the brain.”

Getting the right dosage of drugs to the right place in the brain has long been a challenge. The same natural blood-brain barrier that protects our brains from toxins and pathogens can also block the delivery of important medical treatments. More research is needed before Faraji and his team can use this experimental therapy in humans.

A behind-the-paper blog about the study — by Jesus G. Cruz-Garza, a researcher and co-author at Houston Methodist University — explains how ECED can deliver macromolecules from a hydrogel reservoir on the brain’s surface into the brain.

“The brain acts as a charged porous scaffold that, in the presence of an electric field, enables electroosmosis: the mass flow of fluid in a porous medium.” From the hydrogel reservoir, Cruz-Garza explains, this mass flow of fluid enables the administration of therapeutic agents.