Water-absorbent polymer as a carrier for a discrete deposit of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides in the central nervous system.

One of the problems of introducing antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) into the central nervous system (CNS) is their rapid disappearance from the target site due to their dispersion and diffusion, which results in poor uptake and/or retention in cells (M. Morris, A.B. Lucion, Antisense oligonucleotides in the study of neuroendocrine systems, J. Neuroendocrinol. 7 (1995) 493-500; S. Ogawa, H.E. Brown, H.J. Okano, D.W. Pfaff, Cellular uptake of intracerebrally administrated oligodeoxynucleotides in mouse brain, Regul. Pept. 59 (1995) 143-149) [2,5]. Recently, we adapted a new method using water-absorbent polymer (WAP; internally cross-linked starch-grafted-polyacrylates) as a carrier for antisense ODN. The polymer forms a hydro-gel after absorbing water which is chemically and biologically inert. In these studies, the polymer (powder-form) is fully swollen by physiological saline containing antisense ODN (0.2 micromol/ml) to make 80-fold volume gel. Hydro-gel (1 microliter) is injected into the target site, and water solutes are assumed to be diffused stoichiometrically into CNS from the surface of the gel. Histological studies indicate that 24 h after the injection, antisense ODN (5'biotinylated-S-oligos of 15 mer) are distributed to within 800 micrometer from the edge of the area where the gel is located and then gradually disappear from this area within days, but still remain within 300-micrometer distance 7 days later. Antisense ODN are effectively incorporated by all the cell types examined, i.e., neurons, astrocytes and microglias, and suppress the synthesis of the target protein. This method can be adapted to slow delivery of antisense ODN and other water soluble substances into the CNS.