International Journal of Nanomedicine (May 2024)

Brain Targeting Nanomedicines: Pitfalls and Promise

  • Kakinen A,
  • Jiang Y,
  • Davis TP,
  • Teesalu T,
  • Saarma M

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 19
pp. 4857 – 4875

Abstract

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Aleksandr Kakinen,1,2 Yuhao Jiang,2 Thomas Paul Davis,2 Tambet Teesalu,3,4 Mart Saarma1 1Institute of Biotechnology, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; 2Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; 3Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; 4Materials Research Laboratory, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USACorrespondence: Mart Saarma, Institute of Biotechnology, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 5D, Helsinki, 00790, Finland, Tel +358505002726 ; +358294159378, Email [email protected] Aleksandr Kakinen, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Building 75, Cnr College Road& Cooper Road, St Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia, Tel +61 7 344 63152, Email [email protected]: Brain diseases are the most devastating problem among the world’s increasingly aging population, and the number of patients with neurological diseases is expected to increase in the future. Although methods for delivering drugs to the brain have advanced significantly, none of these approaches provide satisfactory results for the treatment of brain diseases. This remains a challenge due to the unique anatomy and physiology of the brain, including tight regulation and limited access of substances across the blood-brain barrier. Nanoparticles are considered an ideal drug delivery system to hard-to-reach organs such as the brain. The development of new drugs and new nanomaterial-based brain treatments has opened various opportunities for scientists to develop brain-specific delivery systems that could improve treatment outcomes for patients with brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and brain tumors. In this review, we discuss noteworthy literature that examines recent developments in brain-targeted nanomedicines used in the treatment of neurological diseases.Keywords: brain delivery, blood-brain barrier, targeted delivery, nanoparticle, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, cancer

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