Multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disease of the spinal cord and brain, is the most common disabling neurological disease in young adults.
Chronic pain is a common debilitating condition associated with MS. Pain symptoms that arise from damage to the brain and spinal cord, such as facial pain, are highly prevalent and unfortunately, still lack effective treatments. Most current medications for chronic pain are delivered throughout the entire body, are only partially effective, and are associated with frequent severe side effects.
Using a laboratory model of MS, this project will study a new approach for targeted delivery of a pain-relieving drug to reduce facial pain. The team will selectively target facial sensory nerve cells with gold nanoparticles coupled to an approved drug for pain modulation to achieve specific and controlled delivery of the drug to the brain.
The research outcomes will significantly advance the development of new selective drugs that could overcome current drug delivery limitations in chronic pain associated with MS.
Associate Professor Gila Moalem-Taylor and her team have studied how gold nanoparticles and nerve transporters can be used to carry pain medication into the nervous system. The advantage of this approach is that it provides lower doses of medication to precise areas of the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for sensing pain, unlike traditional methods where medication is delivered to the entire body. This will reduce side effects and increase the effectiveness of pain relief at targeted areas.
Early findings showed the nanoparticles are taken up by sensory nerve cells in a laboratory model. Further studies using laboratory models have started observing how these nanoparticles are distributed within the brain and spinal cord after they are administered to facial skin. These studies revealed that pain-sensing nerve cells are particularly good at absorbing these nanoparticles and transporting them further into the brain.
However, the team unexpectedly found consistent transport of the gold nanoparticles into motor neurons, which is relevant to motor symptoms of MS but not pain associated with MS. Associate Professor Moalem-Taylor and her team are now fine-tuning the formulation to improve uptake of the nanoparticles by pain-sensing neurons. The next stage of this study will test this approach in a laboratory model of MS.
W. Wang, M. Hassan, N. Kapoor‐Kaushik, L. Livni, B. Musrie, J. Tang, Z. Mahmud, S. Lai, P. R. Wich, V. Ananthanarayanan, G. Moalem‐Taylor, G. Mao. ‘Neural Tracing Protein‐Functionalized Nanoparticles Capable of Fast Retrograde Axonal Transport in Live Neurons’. Small 2024, 2311921. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202311921
Updated 31 March 2025
$250,000
2023
3 years
Current project
