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Novel drug-delivery approaches to the blood-brain barrier

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Abstract

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) maintains homeostasis by blocking toxic molecules from the circulation, but drugs are blocked at the same time. When the dose is increased to enhance the drug concentration in the central nervous system, there are side-effects on peripheral organs. In recent years, genetic therapeutic agents and small molecules have been used in various strategies to penetrate the BBB while minimizing the damage to systemic organs. In this review, we describe several representative methods to circumvent or cross the BBB, including chemical and physical strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Xiaoqing Wang, Mingyuan Liu & Yangtai Guan

  2. Stem Cells and Medical Research Center, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Xiaoqing Wang

  3. Department of Gerontology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Xiaowen Yu

  4. Department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06519, USA

    William Vaughan

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  1. Xiaoqing Wang
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  2. Xiaowen Yu
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  3. William Vaughan
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  4. Mingyuan Liu
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  5. Yangtai Guan
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Correspondence to Mingyuan Liu or Yangtai Guan.

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These authors contributed equally to this review.

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Wang, X., Yu, X., Vaughan, W. et al. Novel drug-delivery approaches to the blood-brain barrier. Neurosci. Bull. 31, 257–264 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-014-1498-0

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