Exosomes: New Alzheimer's Treatment

Scientists find new way to deliver drugs to the brain of Alzheimer's. This method can be applied to many other brain diseases.

Finding the most effective treatment method against Alzheimer's, performed almost 50 years. The biggest obstacle is the difficulty of the process of drug delivery to the brain, to slow or stop the negative development of the disease.

Researchers from the University of Oxford, managed to turn off genes involved in Alzheimer's disease in rat brain, using small particles, naturally released by cells called exosomes. Exosomes were injected into the blood and bring drugs across the various barriers in the blood and brain, so that until the brain areas in need.

"We showed a natural system can be used to help the drug cross the barrier in the blood and brain. We believe could use the same technology for Alzheimer's, motor neuron disease, Parkinson's and Huntington's," said the researcher, quoted by the Press Association on Monday (3/21/2011).