[ExI] Case A-2643

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Sat, Jul 23, 2016 at 5:36 PM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:
>
>
> What drugs open the BBB? A cursory scan didn't show me anything. Using
> ultrasound to do it might be somewhat risky and likely is too focal.
>

### There is some research on intentional opening of BBB in the context of
drug delivery to brain tumors. I found a number of articles on borneol,
which seems to have a reasonably targeted effect on BBB without severe
general toxicity. There are a few articles on various biologics that target
the activity of BBB-related proteins such as ZO-1, occludin, claudin,
caveolin. Borneol seems to increase brain permeability of some drugs by
more that 100%.

I agree that ultrasound may be more difficult to apply evenly, however,
there are clinically approved ultrasound devices that precisely disrupt
small targets in human brains under real-time MRI guidance. They use phased
arrays of sound transducers, up to a thousand or so, to deliver
high-intensity ultrasound and cause thermal lesions but at lower
intensities of sound they can be used to disrupt BBB without causing
irreversible tissue damage. It might be possible to program the device to
scan through the brain during perfusion.

A very rich benefactor could buy an MRI machine for Alcor to allow
non-invasive real-time monitoring of brain suspension. Wouldn't that be
awesome?

Rafał
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