Natural aging and Alzheimer's disease pathology increase susceptibility to focused ultrasound-induced blood-brain barrier opening

Focused Ultrasound (FUS) paired with systemically-injected microbubbles (μB) is capable of transiently opening the blood-brain barrier (BBBO) for noninvasive and targeted drug delivery to the brain. FUS-BBBO is also capable of modulating the neuroimmune system, further qualifying its therapeutic potential for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease (AD). Natural aging and AD impose significant strain on the brain and particularly the BBB, modifying its structure and subsequently, its functionality. The emerging focus on treating neurodegenerative diseases with FUS-BBBO necessitates an investigation into the extent that age and AD affect the BBB's response to FUS. FUS-BBBO was performed with a 1.5-MHz, geometrically focused transducer operated at 450 kPa and paired with a bolus microbubble injection of 8 × 108 μB/mL. Here we quantify the BBBO, BBB closing (BBBC) timeline, and BBB permeability (BBBP) following FUS-BBBO in male mice with and without AD pathology, aged 10 weeks, one year, or two years. The data presented herein indicates that natural aging and AD pathology may increase initial BBBO volume by up to 34.4% and 40.7% respectively, extend BBBC timeline by up to 1.3 and 1.5 days respectively, and increase BBBP as measured by average Ktrans values up to 80% and 86.1% respectively in male mice. This characterization of the BBB response to FUS-BBBO with age and AD further clarifies the nature and extent of the functional impact of these factors and may offer new considerations for planning FUS-BBBO interventions in aged and AD populations.

Alteration of functional connectivity in the cortex and major brain networks of non-human primates following focused ultrasound exposure

Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technology that is being investigated for potential treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Focused ultrasound combined with microbubbles can temporarily open the intact blood-brain barrier (BBB) of animals and humans, and facilitate drug delivery. FUS exposure, either with or without microbubbles, has been demonstrated to alter the behavior of non-human primates, and previous work has demonstrated transient and long-term effects of FUS neuromodulation on functional connectivity using resting state functional MRI. However, it is unknown whether opening the BBB affects functional connectivity differently than FUS alone. Thus we applied FUS alone (neuromodulation) and FUS with microbubbles (BBB opening) in the dorsal striatum of lightly anesthetized non-human primates, and compared changes in functional connectivity in major brain networks. We found different alteration patterns between FUS neuromodulation and FUS-mediated BBB opening in several cortical areas, and we also found that applying FUS to a deep brain structure can alter functional connectivity in the default mode network and frontotemporal network.

Long term study of motivational and cognitive effects of low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation in the dorsal striatum of nonhuman primates

Noninvasive brain stimulation using transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) has many potential applications as a research and clinical tool, including incorporation into neural prosthetics for cognitive rehabilitation. To develop this technology, it is necessary to evaluate the safety and efficacy of FUS neuromodulation for specific brain targets and cognitive functions. It is also important to test whether repeated long-term application of FUS to deep brain targets improves or degrades behavioral and cognitive function. To this end, we investigated the effects of FUS in the dorsal striatum of nonhuman primates (NHP) performing a visual-motor decision-making task for small or large rewards. Over the course of 2 years, we performed 129 and 147 FUS applications, respectively, in two NHP. FUS (0.5 MHz @ 0.2-0.8 MPa) was applied to the putamen and caudate in both hemispheres to evaluate the effects on movement accuracy, motivation, decision accuracy, and response time. Sonicating the caudate or the putamen unilaterally resulted in modest but statistically significant improvements in motivation and decision accuracy, but at the cost of slower reaction times. The effects were dose (i.e., FUS pressure) and reward dependent. There was no effect on reaching accuracy, nor was there long-term behavioral impairment or neurological trauma evident on T1-weighted, T2-weighted, or susceptibility-weighted MRI scans. Sonication also resulted in significant changes in resting state functional connectivity between the caudate and multiple cortical regions. The results indicate that applying FUS to the dorsal striatum can positively impact the motivational and cognitive aspects of decision making. The capability of FUS to improve motivation and cognition in NHPs points to its therapeutic potential in treating a wide variety of human neural diseases, and warrants further development as a novel technique for non-invasive deep brain stimulation.

Recombinant BRICHOS chaperone domains delivered to mouse brain parenchyma by focused ultrasound and microbubbles are internalized by hippocampal and cortical neurons

The BRICHOS domain is found in human precursor proteins associated with cancer, dementia (Bri2) and amyloid lung disease (proSP-C). Recombinant human (rh) proSP-C and Bri2 BRICHOS domains delay amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) fibril formation and reduce associated toxicity in vitro and their overexpression reduces Aβ neurotoxicity in animal models of Alzheimer's disease. After intravenous administration in wild-type mice, rh Bri2, but not proSP-C, BRICHOS was detected in the brain parenchyma, suggesting that Bri2 BRICHOS selectively bypasses the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Here, our objective was to increase the brain delivery of rh proSP-C (trimer of 18 kDa subunits) and Bri2 BRICHOS (monomer to oligomer of 15 kDa subunits) using focused ultrasound combined with intravenous microbubbles (FUS + MB), which enables targeted and transient opening of the BBB. FUS + MB was targeted to one hemisphere of wild type mice and BBB opening in the hippocampal region was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. Two hours after FUS + MB brain histology showed no signs of tissue damage and immunohistochemistry showed abundant delivery to the brain parenchyma in 13 out of 16 cases given 10 mg/kg of proSP-C or Bri2 BRICHOS domains. The Bri2, but not proSP-C BRICHOS domain was detected also in the non-targeted hemisphere. ProSP-C and Bri2 BRICHOS domains were taken up by a subset of neurons in the hippocampus and cortex, and were detected to a minor extent in early endosomes. These results indicate that rh Bri2, but not proSP-C, BRICHOS, can be efficiently delivered into the mouse brain parenchyma and that both BRICHOS domains can be internalized by cell-specific mechanisms.