Opening The Blood-Brain Barrier With Sound

May 24, 2005

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=22723 & nfid=rssfeeds#

13 Apr 2005

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is an anatomical structure that prevents larger

molecules in the bloodstream

from entering the brain.

These larger molecules include ones that would be harmful to the brain, but also

many potentially useful ones

such as drugs that would be effective for treating brain cancer. Recently,

acousticians discovered that ultrasound

could safely open up the BBB.

Moreover, this process is reversible: the BBB closes naturally--typically a few

hours after the ultrasound is applied.

Pierre Mourad of the University of Washington (Pierre@...) will

provide an overview of the research

that has been done on this topic to date, and discuss potential applications

(2aBB1). Kullervo Hynynen and his

colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts

(kullervo@...) have discovered that

ultrasound can open up specific regions of the BBB, potentially enabling

physicians to someday send drugs to

specific parts of the brain.

The researchers say that this may be an especially powerful tool since MRI scans

could help physicians guide an

ultrasound beam to the desired target (2aBB2).

Do students change their accents shortly after they enroll in college? How can

ultrasound trigger healing in bone

fractures that are otherwise very stubborn to mend? Could airplane noise lower a

student's test scores?

These and other questions will be addressed at the joint meeting of the

Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and

the Canadian Acoustical Association (CAA), to be held May 16-20, 2005 at the

Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel

(655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2R7, Canada, 604-639-4820). Over 1050

papers will be presented, making

it one of the largest acoustics meetings to date. ASA (http://asa.aip.org) is

the largest scientific organization

in the United States devoted to acoustics. CAA (http://www.caa-aca.ca) is a

professional, interdisciplinary

organization devoted to acoustics in Canada.

WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM

We encourage you to visit ASA's " World Wide Press Room " (located at

http://www.acoustics.org/press) before and

during the meeting. By the week of May 2, the site will contain lay-language

versions of selected meeting papers.

These papers will enable you to cover the meeting, even if you can't leave your

desk.

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Reporters covering the meeting can receive a complimentary press badge to attend

all sessions.

Please fill out the reply form if you are interested in attending the meeting.

Ben Stein (bstein@..., 301-209-3091)

and Martha Heil (mheil@...; 626-354-5613) of the American Institute of

Physics will be available both

remotely and on-site to facilitate your requests, from contacting speakers at

the meeting to obtaining

background material on meeting topics.

VIEWING MEETING ABSTRACTS

Full abstracts of the papers mentioned in this news release can be viewed at the

Meeting Abstracts Database

(http://asa.aip.org/asasearch.html) by typing in the last name of the author or

the appropriate paper code.

Entire sessions can be viewed by simply typing in the session code followed by a

star (e.g., 1aBB*).

In addition, typing a general subject (such as " guitar " ) or a particular

university or city (such as " Toronto " )

may provide other results of interest.

Contact: Ben Stein

bstein@...

301-209-3091

American Institute of Physics

http://www.aip.org

--

Per Sjöholm

Stockholm, Sweden

May 24, 2005

Thanks Per, very interesting stuff, I have copied the abstracts of the

talks below.

Per Sjoholm <pts2grps@e...> wrote in part:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=22723 & nfid=rssfeeds#

==========================================================

2aBB1. Opening the blood-brain barrier with ultrasound.

Session: Tuesday Morning, May 17

Time: 8:00

Author: Pierre Mourad

Location: APL/Neurosurgery, Univ. of Washington, 1013 NE 40th St.,

Seattle, WA 98105, pierre@...

Abstract:

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) constitutes a unique anatomical

structure within the brain that prevents many therapeutic chemicals

within the blood from entering the brain. Research at the University

of Washington has shown that it is possible to transiently disrupt the

BBB without damage in an intra-operative setting, as verified by the

flux of vital dyes from the blood-stream into the brain. This talk

will review the research we have done to date on this subject, and

discuss potential applications of this approach to BBB disruption.

============================================================

2aBB2. Feasibility of noninvasive ultrasound delivery for tumor

ablation and targeted drug delivery in the brain.

Session: Tuesday Morning, May 17

Time: 8:20

Author: Kullervo Hynynen

Location: Dept. of Radiol., Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis

St., Boston, MA 02115

Author: McDannold

Location: Dept. of Radiol., Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis

St., Boston, MADept. of Radiol., Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75

Francis St., Boston, MA 02115

Author: Greg Clement

Location: Dept. of Radiol., Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis

St., Boston, MADept. of Radiol., Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75

Francis St., Boston, MA 02115

Author: White

Location: Dept. of Radiol., Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis

St., Boston, MADept. of Radiol., Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75

Francis St., Boston, MA 02115

Author: Treat