Houston Methodist researchers have discovered a more accurate and timely way to deliver life-saving drug therapies to the brain, laying the groundwork for more effective treatment of brain tumors and other neurological diseases than with the current convection-enhanced delivery (CED).

Delivering the correct dosage of drugs to the right place in the brain has long been a challenge. The natural blood-brain barrier that protects our brains from toxins and pathogens can also block the delivery of important medical treatments. And CED also follows the path of least resistance, so therapeutics don’t always hit the target.

Electric field infuses medicine accurately

So the researchers developed a new process called “electrokinetic convection-enhanced delivery” (ECED) that allows surgeons to design the appropriate delivery path and potentially reach brain lesions and tumors more accurately. ECED uses an electric field to infuse medicine from a reservoir outside the brain to specific targets inside the brain. It applies continuous pressure over time to inject a fluid containing therapeutics into the brain.

In the Springer Nature journal Communications Biology, Houston Methodist research scientist and co-author Jesus G. Cruz-Garza explains how ECED infuses macromolecules into the brain from a hydrogel reservoir placed at the brain’s surface. “The brain acts as a charged porous scaffold that in the presence of an electric field allows for electroosmosis—bulk fluid flow in a porous media.” From the hydrogel reservoir, Cruz-Garza explains, this bulk flow of fluid enables the delivery of therapeutic agents.

This invention improves on the 30-year-old process of injecting therapeutics into the brain via, say the researchers.

“Delivering therapeutics by way of ECED has many applications,” explained Dr. Amir Faraji, principal investigator and Houston Methodist neurosurgeon, in a statement. “It has the potential to “improve gene therapy and as a treatment for traumatic brain injury and degenerative diseases, and in a more targeted manner.”

The research was conducted at Houston Methodist Department of Neurosurgery, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Center for Neural Systems Restoration, Center for Neuroregeneration, in conjunction with Texas A&M University College of Medicine and School of Engineering.

Further research is needed before Faraji and team can bring this investigational therapy to humans, the researchers advise.

Citations:

Cruz-Garza, J.G., Bhenderu, L.S., Taghlabi, K.M. et al. (2024) Electrokinetic convection-enhanced delivery for infusion into the brain from a hydrogel reservoir. Commun Biol 7, 869. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06404-1 (open access)

Eid, F., Chen, A. T., Chan, K. Y., Huang, Q., Zheng, Q., Tobey, I. G., Pacouret, S., Brauer, P. P., Keyes, C., Powell, M., Johnston, J., Zhao, B., Lage, K., Tarantal, A. F., Chan, Y. A., & Deverman, B. E. (2024). Systematic multi-trait AAV capsid engineering for efficient gene delivery. Nature Communications, 15(1), 1-14. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50555-y (open-access)

Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter.