Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles To Promote Drug Delivery To The Brain
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Treating diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's is a challenge because drugs have to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier. As a result, the doses administered must be high and only a small fraction reaches the brain, which can lead to significant systemic side effects. To solve this issue, the postdoctoral researcher Jean-Michel Rabanel, under the supervison of Professor Charles Ramassamy, at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (NRS), is optimizing polymer-coated nanoparticles to increase their permeability across this barrier and consequently the delivery of encapsulated drugs in the brain.
In their recent study, the team demonstrated the effectiveness of a specific polymer with zwitterion properties. These molecules are neutral overall, and have an equal number of positive and negative charges to mimic the molecules on the cell's surface. The researchers compared the characteristics of two polymer coatings on the polylactic acid (PLA) nanoparticles, a biocompatible material easily cleared by the body.
The first coating, made of polyethylene glycol (PEG), had already been tested on the zebrafish, whose transparent body makes it possible to see the distribution of nanoparticles virtually in real time. The second coating, made of zwitterionic polymer, was compared under the same conditions.
[...] According to Societe Alzheimer de Quebec, neurodegenerative diseases currently affect more than 565,000 Canadians, including 152,121 in Quebec.
Journal Reference:
Jean-Michel Rabanel, et al. Nanoparticle shell structural cues drive in vitro transport properties, tissue distribution and brain accessibility in zebrafish, Biomaterials (2021). (DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.121085)
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