MELBOURNE researchers are creating tiny particles to deliver drugs to the hard-to-reach inner ear, aiming to create the first preventive treatment for progressive deafness and increase the life span of cochlear implants.
The nanotechnology, an emerging area of biomedical research, could also be used to administer medication to specific cells for other neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
A research team from the Bionics Institute and University of Melbourne has developed particles - the size of 100s and 1000s - that can be loaded with medication to protect hair cells in the inner ear.
These hair cells change the vibrations in the environment into electrical signals that are sent to the brain to be processed as sounds. When they are damaged through noise exposure, medication, chemotherapy or old age, this causes hearing loss.
Bionics Institute senior research fellow, Dr Andrew Wise told the international Medical Bionics conference in Phillip Island this week that with preclinical studies showing an improvement in nerve survival using drugs delivered through nanoparticles, it was emerging as a promising treatment to improve the hearing of cochlear implant patients.
"A big problem with these people tend to lose what little hearing they have after implantation. No-one really knows why,'' Dr Wise said.
"Doctors are hesitant to provide an implant to people with some hearing because of the fear they'll lose what little they have.
"There is real interest from the major cochlear implant companies to improve the performance of these devices and open them up to for a lot more people to get a cochlear implant.''
Dr Wise said the nanoparticles they created were porous like volcanic rock, allowing the drugs to be deeply embedded and diffuse into a specific area of the body over a number of months.
"Afterwards the structure breaks down and is cleared by the body,'' Dr Wise said.
"You won't need repeated drug delivery, which has significant side effects.
