Functionalized, Therapeutic-Loaded Liposomes for the Acute Treatment of TBI

Traumatic brain injury is a common problem in both the military and civilian communities, but current treatment protocols are focused on managing symptoms and fail to prevent significant long-term repercussions. In the proposed program, Luna will demonstrate the feasibility of a liposome-based therapeutic delivery system capable of delivering hydrophilic and hydrophobic therapeutics to the traumatically injured brain. An intranasal formulation will be developed to simplify administration and enable delivery within minutes to hours of injury, effectively minimizing the onset of secondary inflammatory responses that may be more damaging than the initial injury itself. In Phase I, Luna will demonstrate the feasibility of this delivery system using in vitro models, and in Phase II will demonstrate the functionality of these functionalized liposomes in in vivo TBI models.