Noninvasive, Targeted, and Non-Viral Ultrasound-Mediated GDNF-Plasmid Delivery for Treatment of Parkinson's Disease

Sci Rep. 2016 Jan 20:6:19579. doi: 10.1038/srep19579.

Abstract

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) supports the growth and survival of dopaminergic neurons. CNS gene delivery currently relies on invasive intracerebral injection to transit the blood-brain barrier. Non-viral gene delivery via systematic transvascular route is an attractive alternative because it is non-invasive, but a high-yield and targeted gene-expressed method is still lacking. In this study, we propose a novel non-viral gene delivery approach to achieve targeted gene transfection. Cationic microbubbles as gene carriers were developed to allow the stable formation of a bubble-GDNF gene complex, and transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) exposure concurrently interacting with the bubble-gene complex allowed transient gene permeation and induced local GDNF expression. We demonstrate that the focused ultrasound-triggered GDNFp-loaded cationic microbubbles platform can achieve non-viral targeted gene delivery via a noninvasive administration route, outperform intracerebral injection in terms of targeted GDNF delivery of high-titer GDNF genes, and has a neuroprotection effect in Parkinson's disease (PD) animal models to successfully block PD syndrome progression and to restore behavioral function. This study explores the potential of using FUS and bubble-gene complexes to achieve noninvasive and targeted gene delivery for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Blood-Brain Barrier / metabolism
  • Cell Line
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Transfer Techniques*
  • Genetic Therapy
  • Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / genetics*
  • Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / metabolism
  • Microbubbles
  • Motor Activity
  • Parkinson Disease / genetics*
  • Parkinson Disease / metabolism
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology
  • Parkinson Disease / therapy
  • Permeability
  • Phenotype
  • Plasmids / administration & dosage
  • Plasmids / genetics*
  • Plasmids / metabolism
  • Rats
  • Transfection
  • Ultrasonic Waves*

Substances

  • Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor