MINNEAPOLIS, January 3, 2008—A research team that includes a University of Minnesota Medical School professor has published a framework for overcoming the blood-brain barrier.

The blood-brain barrier has been described as the Achilles heel for treating neurological disorders. It's a necessary element to keeping the brain and nervous system healthy, but it causes problems in medication delivery because it treats medications as the enemy, preventing the therapeutic agents from doing their job.

Nevertheless, there are portals in the barrier that, with proper research, offer a way through.

"In order to develop new and innovative treatments for diseases such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis, researchers have to find ways to overcome the blood-brain barrier," said Lester Drewes, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth campus.

"The review has resulted in a number of recommendations to establish and fund research centers that will focus on overcoming these barriers."

Drewes is the founding president of the International Brain Barriers Society, a forum for scientists to share their research and fast track discoveries related to the blood-brain barrier. He and other scientists from Minnesota and Oregon Health & Science University wrote the review.

The researchers examined six topic areas surrounding brain barriers that need to be addressed in order to advance scientific understanding and ultimately improve patient care: inflammation, injury, tumors, neurodegeneration, specialized barriers, and delivery.

In addition to the blood-brain barrier, there are other barriers in the brain. The research team suggest that more research needs to be done on how these barriers act alone and in concert with other barriers.

The review article is published in the January issue of the The Lancet Neurology.