Conventional forms of drug administration generally rely on pills, eye drops, ointments, and intravenous solutions. Recently, a number of novel drug delivery approaches have been developed. These approaches include drug modification by chemical means, drug entrapment in small vesicles that are injected into the bloodstream, and drug entrapment within pumps or polymeric materials that are placed in desired bodily compartments (for example, the eye or beneath the skin). These techniques have already led to delivery systems that improve human health, and continued research may revolutionize the way many drugs are delivered.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/249/4976/1527.full.pdf

New methods of drug delivery.

In vitro cytotoxicity testing of polycations: influence of polymer structure on cell viability and hemolysis.

The blood-brain barrier: an overview: structure, regulation, and clinical implications.

‡§ ¶ Erythropoietin (EPO), recognized for its central role in erythropoiesis, also mediates neuroprotection when the recombinant form (r-HuEPO) is directly injected into ischemic rodent brain. We observed abundant expression of the EPO receptor at brain capillaries, which could provide a route for circulating EPO to enter the brain. In confirmation of this hypothesis, systemic administration of r-Hu-EPO before or up to 6 h after focal brain ischemia reduced injury by ’50‐75%. R-Hu-EPO also ameliorates the extent of concussive brain injury, the immune damage in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, and the toxicity of kainate. Given r-Hu-EPO’s excellent safety profile, clinical trials evaluating systemically administered r-HuEPO as a general neuroprotective treatment are warranted.

/pdf/erythropoietin-crosses-the-blood-brain-barrier-to-protect-44onv9if3c.pdf

Erythropoietin crosses the blood-brain barrier to protect against experimental brain injury.

The Tat protein of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) can enter cells efficiently when added exogenously in tissue culture. To assess if Tat can carry other molecules into cells, we chemically cross-linked Tat peptides (residues 1-72 or 37-72) to beta-galactosidase, horseradish peroxidase, RNase A, and domain III of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) and monitored uptake colorimetrically or by cytotoxicity. The Tat chimeras were effective on all cell types tested, with staining showing uptake into all cells in each experiment. In mice, treatment with Tat-beta-galactosidase chimeras resulted in delivery to several tissues, with high levels in heart, liver, and spleen, low-to-moderate levels in lung and skeletal muscle, and little or no activity in kidney and brain. The primary target within these tissues was the cells surrounding the blood vessels, suggesting endothelial cells, Kupffer cells, and/or splenic macrophages. Tat-mediated uptake may allow the therapeutic delivery of macromolecules previously thought to be impermeable to living cells.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/91/2/664.full.pdf

Tat-mediated delivery of heterologous proteins into cells.

A new model system for characterizing the human brain capillary, which makes up the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in vivo, is described in these studies and is applied initially to the investigation of the human BBB insulin receptor. Autopsy brains were obtained from the pathologist between 22-36 h postmortem and were used to isolate human brain microvessels which appeared intact on both light and phase microscopy. The microvessels were positive for human factor 8 and for a BBB-specific enzyme marker, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase. The microvessels avidly bound insulin with a high-affinity dissociation constant, KD = 1.2 +/- 0.5 nM. The human brain microvessels internalized insulin based on acid-wash assay, and 75% of insulin was internalized at 37 degrees C. The microvessels transported insulin to the medium at 37 degrees C with a t1/2 = approximately 70 min. Little of the 125I-insulin was metabolized by the microvessels under these conditions based on the elution profile of the medium extract over a Sephadex G-50 column. Plasma membranes were obtained from the human brain microvessels and these membranes were enriched in membrane markers such as gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase or alkaline phosphatase. The plasma membranes bound 125I-insulin with and ED50 = 10 ng/ml, which was identical to the 50% binding point in intact microvessels. The human BBB plasma membranes were solubilized in Triton X-100 and were adsorbed to a wheat germ agglutinin Sepharose affinity column, indicating the BBB insulin receptor is a glycoprotein. Affinity cross-linking of insulin to the plasma membranes revealed a 127K protein that specifically binds insulin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Human blood-brain barrier insulin receptor.

The kinetics of binding and endocytosis of 125I-human holotransferrin by isolated human brain capillaries was examined using this system as a model of the human blood-brain barrier (BBB). Both binding and endocytosis of the peptide by human brain capillaries was temperature-dependent and the binding was saturated by holotransferrin, but not by insulin, somatostatin, or vasopressin. Scatchard analysis of the binding reaction revealed a dissociation constant of 448 +/- 110 ng/mL (5.6 +/- 1.4 nmol/L) and a maximal binding constant (Ro) of 8.0 +/- 1.5 ng/mg protein. Thus, the affinity and capacity of the BBB transferrin receptor is within the same order of magnitude as the affinity and capacity of the BBB receptors for insulin, insulinlike growth factor-I, or insulinlike growth factor-II. The human brain capillary transferrin receptor was also detected with a mouse monoclonal antibody to the receptor using the avidin/biotin/peroxidase technique. In conclusion, these studies characterize the human BBB transferrin receptor and support the hypothesis that this receptor acts as a transport system which mediates the transcytosis of transferrin-bound iron through the brain capillary endothelial cell in man.

Human blood-brain barrier transferrin receptor

Absorptive-mediated endocytosis of cationized albumin and a beta-endorphin-cationized albumin chimeric peptide by isolated brain capillaries. Model system of blood-brain barrier transport

Somatostatin (SRIF) is a putative peptide neurotransmitter that may interact with brain capillaries following neurosecretion of the peptide. The present studies investigate the binding and metabolism of SRIF analogues in isolated bovine brain microvessels. 125I-[Tyr1]SRIF was rapidly degraded by capillary aminopeptidase with a half-time of approximately 3 min at 23 degrees C. The microvessel aminopeptidase had a low affinity and high capacity for the peptide, Km = 76 microM and Vmax = 74 nmol min-1 mgp-1. 125I-[Tyr11]SRIF was converted to free iodotyrosine at a much slower rate, presumably by a lower-activity endopeptidase. 125I-[Try11]SRIF was rapidly bound by microvessels, whereas another basic peptide, [Tyr8]bradykinin, or an acidic peptide, CCK8, or a neutral peptide, leucine enkephalin, were bound to a considerably less extent. The binding of 125I-[Tyr11]SRIF to the capillaries was nonsaturable up to a concentration of 1 microgram/ml of unlabeled peptide, and the binding reaction was extremely rapid, reaching equilibrium within 5 s at either 0 degrees C or 37 degrees C. Approximately 20% of the SRIF bound by the microvessels was resistant to acid wash and presumably represented internalized peptide. In addition, the 125I-[Tyr11]SRIF bound rapidly to the endothelial cytoskeleton remaining after a 1% Triton X-100 extraction of the microvessels. The peptide-cytoskeletal binding reaction was nonsaturable up to 1 microgram/ml of unlabeled [Tyr11]SRIF, but it was inhibited by 0.5% polylysine or 0.8 M KCl and was stimulated by 1 mM dithiothreiotol. These studies suggest that brain microvessels rapidly sequester and degrade SRIF analogues and that this may represent one mechanism for rapid inactivation of the neuropeptides subsequent to neurosecretion.

/pdf/rapid-sequestration-and-degradation-of-somatostatin-4x531023xw.pdf

Jody Eisenberg

Papers

Human blood-brain barrier insulin receptor.

Human blood-brain barrier transferrin receptor

Absorptive-mediated endocytosis of cationized albumin and a beta-endorphin-cationized albumin chimeric peptide by isolated brain capillaries. Model system of blood-brain barrier transport

Rapid sequestration and degradation of somatostatin analogues by isolated brain microvessels.

Chimeric peptides as a vehicle for peptide pharmaceutical delivery through the blood-brain barrier.