IBS Nanomedicine Research Center develops treatment for Parkinson’s disease using nanomagnetic genetic technology
Balance and mobility more than doubled… The effect persists with repeated treatment
Good news has been delivered to the 10 million Parkinson’s patients around the world.
Instead of surgery, which requires drilling a hole in the skull and inserting electrodes deep into the brain, a new treatment has been proposed that relieves the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by activating brain neurons non-invasively and without wires.
Jin-Woo Cheon, director of the Nanomedicine Research Center at the Institute of Basic Sciences (IBS, director Do-Young Noh), and the research group of researcher Min-Seok Kwak have developed a “deep brain stimulation based on nanomagnetic genetics” (Magneto -)” which can effectively treat Parkinson’s disease by activating nerve cells deep in the brain using magnetic fields. developed “genetic-driven deep brain stimulation”.
DBS (deep brain stimulation) / IBS based on nanomagnetogenetics provided
Parkinson’s disease is a type of degenerative brain disease in which dopamine neurons, which play an important role in motor control, die, causing movement disorder symptoms such as body tremors, stiffness, and postural instability. In today’s aging society, the number of patients is rapidly increasing, but there is no fundamental treatment. For seriously ill patients who have difficulty with daily life due to drug therapy, deep brain stimulation (DBS), a surgical procedure, is attempted to relieve symptoms.
DBS is a method that involves implanting electrodes deep into the brain and providing electrical stimulation to the brain through a stimulation generator installed under the skin of the chest. It can relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by controlling signals between nerve cells. However, because the electrodes must be inserted deep into the brain through surgery, serious side effects such as brain hemorrhage and tissue damage can occur. Furthermore there is the disadvantage that the treatment effect is only maintained during the application of electrical stimulation.
To overcome these limitations, the research team devised a method to apply the nanomagnetic genetic technology developed in previous research to DBS. Nano-magnetogenetics is a technology that can control brain function by wirelessly activating specific nerve cells in the brain using magnetic fields.
First, magnetic nanoparticles are injected deep into the brain. These magnetic nanoparticles respond to a specific magnetic field and generate a force of approximately 2pN (piconewton). When a magnetic field is stimulated using a magnetogenetic device, magnetic nanoparticles attach to the surface of specific nerve cells and open Piezo-1 ion channels, leading to activation of the nerve cells. The magnetogenetic device can operate at a size similar to that of an MRI machine (70cm core diameter) and can non-invasively deliver magnetic field stimulation deep into the human brain.
Effect of DBS on the treatment of motor disorders of Parkinson’s disease using nano-magnetogenetics / Provided by IBS
When this technology was applied to Parkinson’s mice with movement disorders and magnetic field stimulation was performed, neurons in the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a specific region of the brain, were activated more than 10 times. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the sense of balance and mobility improved more than twice, showing almost normal athletic abilities. Additionally, Parkinson’s mice that were repeatedly stimulated every day for two weeks maintained about 35 percent of their recovered motor skills 24 hours after the stimulation stopped. Unlike the existing DBS method, which maintains the treatment effect only while electrical stimulation is applied, nano-magnetogenetics-based DBS confirmed that the treatment effect lasts.
Director Jinwoo Cheon said: “We have demonstrated that using nanomagnetic genetics it is possible to treat not only Parkinson’s disease but also epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. stimulating nerve cells non-invasively and more precisely than the existing DBS method. “We expect it to be used for research and treatment of various neurological diseases.”
The results of this study were published in an international academic journal <나노 레터스(Nano Letters)>(IF 12.262) was released on January 10 (Korean time).
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