Grant: Project Grant

The brain and spinal cord have protective barriers that regulate their environment. While these barriers are beneficial in healthy individuals, in patients with brain or spinal cord disorders, these barriers prevent drugs from reaching their target. This work will investigate the use of ultrasound to temporarily open the barrier between the blood vessels and spinal cord in order to deliver drugs more efficiently. Medical ultrasound (US) has many potential therapeutic applications, one of which is facilitating drug delivery in the brain by temporarily opening the barrier between the blood and the brain. This is accomplished when the US interacts with micro-sized gas spheres that are injected in the blood stream and causes them to vibrate, stimulating the blood vessels walls. By focusing the US energy to a small volume, this effect can be directed to specific sites without impacting the surrounding tissue. In the brain, a number of anti-cancer agents have been delivered in preclinical studies using this method and have shown improved effects in combating tumors. In preliminary studies, this technique has also been used to open the barrier to the spinal cord, and recently a positive therapeutic effect was seen in an animal model. We hypothesize that US-based drug delivery can safely increase the therapeutic efficacy of drugs delivered to the spinal cord. In rats, we will examine the effects of ultrasound on the spinal cord, develop methods to safely control the treatment exposures, and test this method as a treatment for spinal cord tumors.Using benchtop measurements and experiments in a large animal model we will also investigate how the human spinal geometry will impact treatment monitoring and control techniques. If this study is successful it could lead to a noninvasive treatment option for patients with spinal cord disease and encourage the investigation of new drug interventions for these conditions.