Novel central nervous system drug delivery systems.

Abstract

For decades, biomedical and pharmaceutical researchers have worked to devise new and more effective therapeutics to treat diseases affecting the central nervous system. The blood-brain barrier effectively protects the brain, but poses a profound challenge to drug delivery across this barrier. Many traditional drugs cannot cross the blood-brain barrier in appreciable concentrations, with less than 1% of most drugs reaching the central nervous system, leading to a lack of available treatments for many central nervous system diseases, such as stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, and brain tumors. Due to the ineffective nature of most treatments for central nervous system disorders, the development of novel drug delivery systems is an area of great interest and active research. Multiple novel strategies show promise for effective central nervous system drug delivery, giving potential for more effective and safer therapies in the future. This review outlines several novel drug delivery techniques, including intranasal drug delivery, nanoparticles, drug modifications, convection-enhanced infusion, and ultrasound-mediated drug delivery. It also assesses possible clinical applications, limitations, and examples of current clinical and preclinical research for each of these drug delivery approaches. Improved central nervous system drug delivery is extremely important and will allow for improved treatment of central nervous system diseases, causing improved therapies for those who are affected by central nervous system diseases.

• Authors: Jocelyn Stockwell, Nabiha Abdi, Xiaofan Lu, Oshin Maheshwari, Changiz Taghibiglou
• Journal: Chemical biology & drug design (Chem Biol Drug Des) Vol. 83 Issue 5 Pg. 507-20 (May 2014) ISSN: 1747-0285 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 24325540 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Chemical References

• Cell-Penetrating Peptides
• Drug Carriers
• Lipids
• Prodrugs
• Small Molecule Libraries

Topics

• Blood-Brain Barrier (metabolism)
• Cell-Penetrating Peptides (chemistry, metabolism)
• Central Nervous System (metabolism)
• Drug Carriers (chemistry)
• Humans
• Lipids (chemistry)
• Nanoparticles (chemistry)
• Prodrugs (chemistry, metabolism)
• Small Molecule Libraries (chemistry, metabolism)