Amelioration of the nigrostriatal pathway facilitated by ultrasound-mediated neurotrophic delivery in early Parkinson's disease

Abstract The blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents most drugs from gaining access to the brain parenchyma, which is a recognized impediment to the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease (PD). Focused ultrasound (FUS), in conjunction with systemically administered microbubbles, opens the BBB locally, reversibly and non-invasively. Herein, we show that neither FUS applied over both the striatum and the ventral midbrain, without neurotrophic factors, nor intravenous administration of neurotrophic factors (either through protein or gene delivery) without FUS, ameliorates the damage to the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway in the sub-acute MPTP mouse model of early-stage PD. Conversely, the combination of FUS and intravenous neurotrophic (protein or gene) delivery attenuates the damage to the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway, by allowing the entry of these agents into the brain parenchyma. Our findings provide evidence that the application of FUS at the early stages of PD facilitates critical neurotrophic delivery that can curb the rapid progression of neurodegeneration while improving the neuronal function, seemingly opening new therapeutic avenues for the early treatment of diseases of the central nervous system.