Bacterial transportable toxins of the nasopharyngeal microbiota in multiple sclerosis. Nose to brain direct.

Delivery of drugs to the brain by the nasal route has recently emerged as a powerful strategy to treat a variety of degenerative and inflammatory conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

Clinical research is currently aiming to extend and enhance nose to brain delivery, circumventing the blood-brain barrier which usually prevents or significantly diminishes access of therapeutic drugs to the central nervous system.

Implantation of controlled release formulations on or within the nasal mucosal tissues to access the olfactory and trigeminal nerve tracts, offers the most effective therapeutic strategy.

The microbial flora of the nasal tissues is known to locally release a profusion of neurotoxic and immune deviating molecules. Do these mucosal toxins simply disperse without consequence? Could they access nose to brain routes and be implicated in the degenerative and inflammatory brain diseases for which currently we have no explanation?