In a new study from the University of York, researchers made significant progress in the development of a nasal spray treatment for patients with Parkinson’s disease.
They developed a new gel that can adhere to tissue inside the nose alongside the drug levodopa, helping deliver treatment directly to the brain.
Levodopa is converted to dopamine in the brain, which makes up for the deficit of dopamine-producing cells in Parkinson’s patients, and helps treat the symptoms of the disease.
Over extended periods of time, however, levodopa becomes less effective, and increased doses are needed.
The team says the current drug used for Parkinson’s Disease is effective to a point, but after a long period of use, the body starts to break down the drug before it gets to the brain where it is most needed.
This means the increased dosage is necessary, and in later stages, sometimes, instead of tablets, the drug has to be injected.
Investigations into nasal sprays have long been of interest as a more effective delivery because of their direct route to the brain via the nerves that service the nose.
In the study, the team created a gel, loaded with levodopa, that could flow into the nose as a liquid and then rapidly change to a thin layer of gel inside the nose.
The method was tested in animal models by a team at King’s College London, where levodopa was successfully released from the gel into the blood and directly to the brain.
The results showed that the gel gave the drug better adhesion inside the nose, which allowed for better levels of uptake into both the blood and brain.
The team is now working to incorporate these materials in nasal spray devices to progress to clinical trials in humans. The approach may also be relevant to other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
If you care about Parkinson’s disease, please read studies about this one-time treatment may eliminate Parkinson’s disease and findings of an important cause of Parkinson’s disease.
For more information about Parkinson’s and your health, please see recent studies about how to accurately detect early-stage Parkinson’s disease and results showing that living near major roads linked to high risk of dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s.
The study is published in Advanced Science. One author of the study is Professor David Smith.
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