title: Optical method for real-time monitoring of drug concentrations facilitates the development of novel methods for drug delivery to brain tissue.
abstract: The understanding of drug delivery to organs, such as the brain, has been hampered by the inability to measure tissue drug concentrations in real time. We report an application of an optical spectroscopy technique that monitors in vivo the real-time drug concentrations in small volumes of brain tissue. This method will facilitate development of new protocols for delivery of drugs to treat brain cancers. The delivery of many anticancer drugs to the brain is limited by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Mitoxantrone (MTX) is a water-soluble anticancer drug that poorly penetrates the BBB. It is preliminarily determined in an animal model that the brain tissue uptake of chemotherapy agents-in this demonstration, MTX-delivered intra-arterially is enhanced when the BBB is disrupted.
authors.affiliation: Boston University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 44 Cummington Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. robreif@bu.edu
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reif
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shailendra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Ousama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: A'Amar
authors.forename: Irving J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Bigio
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D003199:Computer Systems; D004360:Drug Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D008942:Mitoxantrone / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D011817:Rabbits; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D008942:Mitoxantrone