Theranostics 2018; 8(6):1481-1493. doi:10.7150/thno.21254 This issue Cite

Review

Current Strategies for Brain Drug Delivery

Xiaowei Dong

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of North Texas System College of Pharmacy, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Citation:
Dong X. Current Strategies for Brain Drug Delivery. Theranostics 2018; 8(6):1481-1493. doi:10.7150/thno.21254. https://www.thno.org/v08p1481.htm
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Abstract

Graphic abstract

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been a great hurdle for brain drug delivery. The BBB in healthy brain is a diffusion barrier essential for protecting normal brain function by impeding most compounds from transiting from the blood to the brain; only small molecules can cross the BBB. Under certain pathological conditions of diseases such as stroke, diabetes, seizures, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer disease, the BBB is disrupted. The objective of this review is to provide a broad overview on current strategies for brain drug delivery and related subjects from the past five years. It is hoped that this review could inspire readers to discover possible approaches to deliver drugs into the brain. After an initial overview of the BBB structure and function in both healthy and pathological conditions, this review re-visits, according to recent publications, some questions that are controversial, such as whether nanoparticles by themselves could cross the BBB and whether drugs are specifically transferred to the brain by actively targeted nanoparticles. Current non-nanoparticle strategies are also reviewed, such as delivery of drugs through the permeable BBB under pathological conditions and using non-invasive techniques to enhance brain drug uptake. Finally, one particular area that is often neglected in brain drug delivery is the influence of aging on the BBB, which is captured in this review based on the limited studies in the literature.

Keywords: actively targeted delivery, disease conditions, permeable blood-brain barrier, aging


Citation styles

APA
Dong, X. (2018). Current Strategies for Brain Drug Delivery. Theranostics, 8(6), 1481-1493. https://doi.org/10.7150/thno.21254.

ACS
Dong, X. Current Strategies for Brain Drug Delivery. Theranostics 2018, 8 (6), 1481-1493. DOI: 10.7150/thno.21254.

NLM
Dong X. Current Strategies for Brain Drug Delivery. Theranostics 2018; 8(6):1481-1493. doi:10.7150/thno.21254. https://www.thno.org/v08p1481.htm

CSE
Dong X. 2018. Current Strategies for Brain Drug Delivery. Theranostics. 8(6):1481-1493.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). See http://ivyspring.com/terms for full terms and conditions.
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