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Author
Armengol Petschen, Lucas
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Abstract
Local drug delivery is an effective and common method for the treatment of diseases. However, local delivery to the inner ear has not been studied much. As a result, the pharmacokinetics (PK) of therapeutic substances delivered directly to the inner ear are not well understood to date.
In recent years, multiple research efforts have been conducted to understand the structure of the inner ear better. This is because recently it has been observed that the cochlea is far more complex that what it was thought before. These discoveries are important for advancing the local drug delivery to the inner ear field. A better understanding of the PK and anatomy of the cochlea are the basis to enable safe and effective drug delivery of hearing therapeutics in development.
In this research we aim to achieve a better understanding of the middle and inner ear from an anatomical and PK point of view in both macaque and human temporal bones (TB). To do that, we set out to perform drug delivery to the inner ear of macaques through the round window (RW). Furthermore, the objective is to be able to perform this drug perfusion in a minimally invasive way, through the external auditory canal (EAC) instead of performing a more invasive incision in the posterior part of the ear. To do so, the anatomy of the outer, middle and inner ear must be well understood in order to assess the feasibility of this method.
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