Lipid Nanoparticles: Promising Treatment Approach for Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder, is a life-altering, debilitating disease exhibiting a severe physical, psychological, and financial burden on patients. Globally, approximately 7–10 million people are afflicted with this disease, with the number of cases estimated to increase to 12.9 million by 2040. PD is a progressive movement disorder with nonmotor symptoms, including insomnia, depression, anxiety, and anosmia. While current therapeutics are available to PD patients, this treatment remains palliative, necessitating alternative treatment approaches. A major hurdle in treating PD is the protective nature of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and its ability to limit access to foreign molecules, including therapeutics. Drugs utilized presently are nonspecific and administered at dosages that result in numerous adverse side effects. Nanomedicine has emerged as a potential strategy for treating many diseases. From the array of nanomaterials available, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) possess various advantages, including enhanced permeability to the brain via passive diffusion and specific and nonspecific transporters. Their bioavailability, nontoxic nature, ability to be conjugated to drugs, and targeting moieties catapult LNPs as a promising therapeutic nanocarriers for PD. While PD-related studies are limited, their potential as therapeutics is evident in their formulations as vaccines. This review is aimed at examining the roles and properties of LNPs that make them efficient therapeutic nanodelivery vehicles for the treatment of PD, including therapeutic advances made to date.

Keywords

• Parkinson’s disease
• lipid nanoparticles
• drug delivery
• blood–brain barrier
• nanomedicine