Nanocarriers for Alzheimer’s disease: Research and patent update

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most progressive neurodegenerative disorders resulting in cognitive and behavioral impairment in individuals beyond 65 years of age. It is distinguished by deposits of extracellular amyloidal protein intracellular and neurofibrillary tangles resulting in senile plaques. Significant advancement has been made in AD therapeutics; however, most of the treatment approaches are based on attenuating symptoms, implying that AD is still an insolvable neurodegenerative illness. Though an enormous number of drug moieties were already screened for different molecular targets of AD, only few of them (N-methyl D-aspartate receptor antagonists and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors) are currently implied for efficacious clinical treatment. Though these medications slow down the development of the disorder and give symptomatic relief; yet they are unsuccessful in achieving a proven cure. Nonetheless, targeted drug delivery of these medications to the Central nervous system (CNS) manifested various restrictions like meager solubility, lower bioavailability along with diminished effectiveness because of the bloodbrain barrier. Recent developments in nanotechnology present chances to overcome such limitations in targeting. Various nanocarriers have been researched that offer promising targeting capabilities. This review aims to provide an update on various dosage forms based on nanotechnology aimed for AD therapeutics, the patents on nanocarriers for AD and clinical trials on AD drugs.

Lipid–polymer hybrid nanoparticles loaded with N-acetylcysteine for the modulation of neuroinflammatory biomarkers in human iPSC-derived PSEN2 (N141I) astrocytes as a model of Alzheimer's disease

“…An essential characteristic of nanocarriers is the controlled release of the drug at the target site, achieved thanks to their small size (1-100 nm). [18][19][20][21][22] A promising candidate for drug delivery is lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (LPHNPs), which have shown higher cellular delivery efficiency in vivo compared to the efficiencies obtained from polymeric and lipid NPs since the coating of the polymeric core with lipids prolongs their circulation time. LPHNPs delay polymer degradation and minimize the leakage of encapsulated content.…”

“…An essential characteristic of nanocarriers is the controlled release of the drug at the target site, achieved thanks to their small size (1–100 nm). 18–22…”