Noelle Comolli, PhD

Nanoparticle Platform Delivers Drugs Across Blood-Brain Barrier in Mice

Medscape (Reuters Health)  print

2021-01-15

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A novel nanoparticle drug delivery system had a therapeutic effect in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury (TBI), regardless of whether the blood-brain barrier (BBB) was physically breached or intact, researchers say. ...

Dr. Noelle Comolli, Chair of Chemical Engineering at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, commented by email, "These nanoparticle platforms are becoming increasingly common, and similar to the lipid nanoparticle coating used in the new mRNA vaccines for COVID. These show great promise, since the increased permeability can be used in so many applications, not just TBI."

"The polymer (PLGA) and varying coatings are not new, and have been used in many applications already, which makes this even more promising," said Dr. Comolli, who was not involved in the study. "What is new is the very small size and study on the exact effect of surface coating and density of surface coating on crossing the BBB."

"Because this is a similar design to many other nanoparticle designs that may NOT be intended to cross the BBB, we may want to be more cautious from now on about checking that our designs do not unintentionally cross the BBB," she added.

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