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Polymeric Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery in Neurological Diseases

  • Nanoparticle-based Drug Delivery (R Banerjee, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Pathobiology Reports

Abstract

Purpose of Review

This review aims at describing the state of the art concerning the design of polymeric nanoparticles for the treatment of neurological diseases. The most important methods of polymeric nanoparticle preparation as well as the required properties for neurological diseases have been summarized.

Recent Findings

Many studies report the design of polymeric nanoparticles to treat diseases such as brain tumors, neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases. However, none of the engineered nanoparticles have reached clinical trials. The reasons of the lack of translation of laboratory results have been analyzed. Many limiting steps can be attributed to the lack of reproducible studies, some controversial results or the absence of current regulations concerning systems at the nanoscale. However, recent studies indicate that these drawbacks can be overcome.

Summary

It is expected that in the near future, some of the engineered nanoparticles that are under development will become novel drug delivery systems to cross the BBB, giving an efficient treatment to currently untreatable and devastating neurological diseases such as glioblastoma and Alzehimer’s disease.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MINECO (Grant CTQ 2011-29336-CO3-01 and CTQ2014-52687), Generalitat de Catalunya (Grant 2014SGR-1655) and CIBER-BBN is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sagetis-Biotech, Via Augusta 394, 08107, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Fornaguera

  2. Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IQAC-CSIC), C/Jordi Girona 18 – 26, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Solans

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  1. C. Fornaguera
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  2. C. Solans
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. Fornaguera.

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Conflict of Interest

C Fornaguera and C. Solans declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical collection on Nanoparticle-based Drug Delivery.

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Fornaguera, C., Solans, C. Polymeric Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery in Neurological Diseases. Curr Pathobiol Rep 4, 189–197 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40139-016-0118-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40139-016-0118-2

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