The treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s has been a longstanding challenge for medical researchers. However, researchers at South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology have developed a new nanoparticle-based technique to administer electrical stimulation to the brain without the use of implanted electrodes. This has the potential to establish a new paradigm in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, says GlobalData, a leading data, and analytics company.

Against this backdrop, GlobalData’s research reveals that South Korea’s neurology devices market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 4% through 2030.

Shreya Jain, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Aging population has significantly increased the social burden of neurodegenerative diseases. Deep brain stimulation therapy is an established and growing treatment option that uses electrical stimulation to directly trigger communication between neurons. However, since electrodes are surgically implanted in the brain, side effects such as repeated surgeries, seizure, brain hemorrhage, and inflammatory responses have always been a concern.”

The newly created piezoelectric nanoparticle has the potential to non-invasively stimulate deep brain tissues, in response to non-invasive, biocompatible ultrasonic waves. In mouse models, these nanoparticles have been shown to alleviate symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by stimulating target regions of the hippocampus without affecting other neural tissue, thereby reducing toxicity.

Jain concludes: “To date, most neurodegenerative diseases lack adequate disease-modifying treatments, emphasizing the critical need for novel and effective therapeutic strategies. Significant opportunities and unmet needs in the field include technological innovation to improve tolerability and provide the safest and most efficient treatment.”