SCIENTISTS THINK THEY'RE ON THE VERGE OF BREACHING THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

The brain and spinal cord are well protected by the blood-brain barrier, which stops almost all drugs from entering the central nervous system. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are testing the delivery of lipid nanoparticles, fat-soluble packages that can pass through the blood-brain barrier and carry proteins, antibodies, and messenger RNA with them. The technique is able to pass some drugs through the blood-brain barrier, but not all of the medicine made it into brain cells when tested in living mice. The researchers are using a new in vitro model that will help guide the future development of brain-targeted treatments.