Development of Polymeric Nanoparticles for Blood–Brain Barrier Transfer—Strategies and Challenges

Abstract

Neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and brain cancers are difficult to treat with current drugs as their delivery efficacy to the brain is severely hampered by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Drug delivery systems have been extensively explored in recent decades aiming to circumvent this barrier. In particular, polymeric nanoparticles have shown enormous potentials owing to their unique properties, such as high tunability, ease of synthesis, and control over drug release profile. However, careful analysis of their performance in effective drug transport across the BBB should be performed using clinically relevant testing models. In this review, polymeric nanoparticle systems for drug delivery to the central nervous system are discussed with an emphasis on the effects of particle size, shape, and surface modifications on BBB penetration. Moreover, the authors critically analyze the current in vitro and in vivo models used to evaluate BBB penetration efficacy, including the latest developments in the BBB-on-a-chip models. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives for the development of polymeric nanoparticles to combat neurological disorders are discussed.

Polysorbate-Based Drug Formulations for Brain-Targeted Drug Delivery and Anticancer Therapy

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Parallelizable Microfluidic Platform to Model and Assess In Vitro Cellular Barriers: Technology and Application to Study the Interaction of 3D Tumor Spheroids with Cellular Barriers

“…Therefore, in vitro models that better recapitulate the physiology, variability and complexity of cellular barriers are under rapid development and may be exploited to study inflammation, disease mechanisms and progression [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. These models possess enormous potential in advancing drug development and discovery by developing techniques and approaches that could facilitate the delivery of therapeutic drug candidates across these barriers [25,26] to reach their target tissue and successfully treat diseases of organs protected by these barriers.…”

Development of Polymer-Based Nanoformulations for Glioblastoma Brain Cancer Therapy and Diagnosis: An Update

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