Advances and perspectives for central nervous system drug delivery: The interface between nanotechnology and neuroscience

摘要

A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) recently highlighted that Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders (brain injuries, neuroinfections, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, stroke, Alzheimer and Parkinson disease) are affecting more than one billion people worldwide (WHO, 2006). The majority of these diseases are almost unbeatable or featured by poor prognosis, since only 2% of the overall drugs are able to enter the brain as the blood-brain barrier (BBB) restricts the diffusion of substances from blood to the brain (Pardridge, 2002; Sharma 2009a, b; Sharma and Sharma, 2010). In recent years, the use of nanotechnology has been considered a valuable strategy in order to achieve the drug delivery to the brain (Pardridge, 2003; Kabanov, 2004; Gabathuler, 2010).