European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

A REVIEW ARTICLE ON TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: DRUG TARGETING TO BRAIN

*Syeda Nashra Khalid and Dr. S. Shahid Mohammed

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, most of the dosage form has a poor pharmacokinetic and biopharmaceutical properties Hence there is need to develop a suitable drug system that distributed the active drug molecule only to the site of action without affecting other tissues or organs. Targeted drug delivery is a method of delivering drugs to the patients at the targeted site or the site of action. The central nervous system, one of the most delicate microenvironments of the body, is protected by the blood-brain barrier (BBB) regulating its homeostasis. BBB is a highly complex structure that tightly regulates the movement of ions of a limited number of small molecules and of an even more restricted number of macromolecules from the blood to the brain, protecting it from injuries and diseases. However, the BBB also significantly precludes the delivery of drugs to the brain, thus, preventing the therapy of a number of neurological disorders. As a consequence, several strategies are currently being sought after to enhance the delivery of drugs across the BBB. Within this review, the recently born strategy of brain drug delivery based on the use of nanoparticles, multifunctional drug delivery systems with size in the order of one-billionth of meters, is described. The review also includes a brief description of the structural and physiological features of the barrier and of the most utilized nanoparticles for medical use. Finally, the potential neurotoxicity of nanoparticles is discussed, and future technological approaches are described. The strong efforts to allow the translation from preclinical to concrete clinical applications are worth the economic investments.

Keywords: Targeted drug delivery, Drug carriers, drug targeting, CNS, BBB, nanoparticles, liposomes, polymers.