Nanoparticulate Systems for Drug Delivery and Targeting to the Central Nervous System

Brain delivery is one of the major challenges for the neuropharmaceutical industry since an alarming increase in brain disease incidence is going on. Despite major advances in neuroscience, many potential therapeutic agents are denied access to the central nervous system (CNS) because of the existence of a physiological low permeable barrier, the blood-brain barrier (BBB). To obtain an improvement of drug CNS performance, sophisticated approaches such as nanoparticulate systems are rapidly developing. Many recent data demonstrate that drugs could be transported successfully into the brain using colloidal systems after i.v. injection by several mechanisms such as endocytosis or P-glycoprotein inhibition. This review summarizes the main brain targeted nanoparticulate carriers such as liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, and micelles with great potential in drug delivery into the CNS. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.