Long-term, Implantable, Intra-Cranial Pressure Sensor

Foster-Miller, Inc., Waltham MA

Investigators

Abstract

Disorders that occur in the nervous system can effect millions of people every year. These include trauma, vascular and immunological diseases of the nervous. Many of these disorders will produce changes in the blood brain barrier. Using state-of-the-art fiber optic technology, Foster- Miller is proposing to develop a sensor system that can monitor and map pressure changes along the blood-brain barrier. Our clinical partner, Tufts University School of Medicine, will implant a prototype sensor into a laboratory rat. Following several weeks of post-operative recuperation, the senor will be activated and intra-cranial pressures measured. The animal will then be exposed to a model disease, experimental allergic encephalitis, and the sensor will monitor changes in intra-cranial pressures throughout on-set and progression of the disease. Successful completion of this program will permit us to identify a relationship between changes in intra-cranial pressure and the development of a neurological disease in an animal. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The primary intent of this program is to develop an implantable monitoring system for recording intra-cranial pressure as a means to determine blood-brain barrier integrity. The study will focus on developing a system useable in animals to test the efficacy of pharmaceutical agents to enter the brain and treat model disease without altering or compromising the blood-brain barrier functions. This approach should be most attractive to scientists in many areas of medical research.