Opening The Blood-Brain Barrier With Sound

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 13 Apr 2005 - 0:00 PST

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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@apl.washington.edu) 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@bwh.harvard.edu) 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@aip.org, 301-209-3091) and Martha Heil (mheil@aip.org; 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@aip.org
301-209-3091
American Institute of Physics
http://www.aip.org