Researchers at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) have developed a drug carrier based on nanodiamonds that can cross a blood-brain barrier model in laboratory tests. The development was a collaborative effort between TalTech researchers and colleagues in the United States and the Czech Republic, led by Yevgen Karpichev, head of the Sustainable Chemistry and Technology research group.
The blood-brain barrier protects the human brain by maintaining a stable environment, allowing necessary substances in while blocking many other molecules, including certain medicines. Because oxime molecules, which are used as antidotes, are positively charged, they face difficulty crossing this barrier.
Nerve agents such as VX, Novichok, and sarin, as well as certain pesticides, can paralyze the human nervous system within minutes by blocking the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme. This blockage leads to respiratory failure and seizures, which can result in death. While oximes have been used for more than 50 years to restore enzyme activity in the peripheral nervous system, they have limited effectiveness in the central nervous system.
Restoring enzyme activity
In vitro tests showed that oximes attached to nanodiamonds were able to cross a blood-brain barrier model and restored the activity of AChE blocked by nerve agents in the central nervous system.
Our study showed that nanodiamonds can help nerve-agent antidotes cross the blood-brain barrier as carriers.
Nanodiamonds are produced through controlled explosions and have a diameter of approximately five nanometers. They possess a chemically resistant and stable structure that degrades slowly and does not react randomly with other molecules.
The approximate diameter of the produced nanodiamonds.
The research, which was published in the journal Chemico-Biological Interactions, has led to a U.S. patent application for the nanodiamond technology. Karpichev stated that this technology could potentially be used for future treatments involving tumors or neurodegenerative diseases.
