Ischemic stroke is the second leading cause of death globally and the primary cause of death in China. Over the past two decades, Prof. Hongbin Han's team has been committed to advancing diagnosis and treatment of major brain disorders by investigating the brain extracellular space (ECS).
Brain ECS occupies 15%–20% of the total brain volume, significantly more than the 3%–5% occupied by cerebral blood vessels, which have so far received much attention. The paper is in the journal and was led by Dr. Han at Peking University.
Brain ECS is crucial for brain functional activities such as sleep, memory, and sensory formation. It not only plays a vital role in the onset and progress of brain disorders but also provides the necessary pathway for drugs to enter and reach targets to exert their effects. The development of novel neuroprotective drugs for has been greatly hindered by the (BBB).
Fortunately, administrating drugs via ECS can bypass the BBB and allows direct infusion into the brain parenchyma, paving a new way for therapeutics. A decade ago, the team reported a drug delivery method via ECS (simple diffusion delivery, SDD), which was also published in . This technique overcame significant challenges associated with pressure-based drug delivery methods (convection enhanced delivery, CED), including drug reflux and precise quantitative analysis.
By using SDD, only 1/800 of the conventional citicoline dose is administrated to achieve a six times greater neuroprotective eff.