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Nano-enabled delivery systems across the blood–brain barrier

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Abstract

The development of drugs to treat disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) faces difficulties in achieving penetration of a drug through the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and allowing the drug to reach its intended target in the brain. There have been strategies to improve drug delivery to the brain through endogenous transport pathways such as passive diffusion, endocytosis, and active transport. Among various strategies, nano-enabled delivery systems offer a promising solution to improve the uptake and targeted delivery of drugs into the brain. Various nanocarriers including liposomes, bolaamphiphiles and nanoparticles can be used as a means to encapsulate drugs, either alone or in combination with targeting ligands. Moreover, most of materials used in nanocarrier fabrication are both biodegradable and biocompatible, thereby increasing the clinical utility of them. Here, we review the possibility to employ nano-enabled materials for delivery of drug across the BBB and the recent advances in nanotechnologies for therapy of the CNS diseases.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program (Theragnosis, Global RNAi Carrier Initiative, and KIST Young Fellow) of KIST.

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  1. College of Pharmacy, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju, 501-759, South Korea

    Seung Rim Hwang

  2. Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Hwarangno 14-gil 6, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-791, South Korea

    Kwangmeyung Kim

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Hwang, S.R., Kim, K. Nano-enabled delivery systems across the blood–brain barrier. Arch. Pharm. Res. 37, 24–30 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-013-0272-6

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