scholarly journals Natural Polysaccharide Carriers in Brain Delivery: Challenge and Perspective

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1183
Author(s):  
Manuela Curcio ◽  
Giuseppe Cirillo ◽  
Jourdin R. C. Rouaen ◽  
Federica Saletta ◽  
Fiore Pasquale Nicoletta ◽  
...  

Targeted drug delivery systems represent valuable tools to enhance the accumulation of therapeutics in the brain. Here, the presence of the blood brain barrier strongly hinders the passage of foreign substances, often limiting the effectiveness of pharmacological therapies. Among the plethora of materials used for the development of these systems, natural polysaccharides are attracting growing interest because of their biocompatibility, muco-adhesion, and chemical versatility which allow a wide range of carriers with tailored physico-chemical features to be synthetized. This review describes the state of the art in the field of targeted carriers based on natural polysaccharides over the last five years, focusing on the main targeting strategies, namely passive and active transport, stimuli-responsive materials and the administration route. In addition, in the last section, the efficacy of the reviewed carriers in each specific brain diseases is summarized and commented on in terms of enhancement of either blood brain barrier (BBB) permeation ability or drug bioavailability in the brain.

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Giunchedi ◽  
Elisabetta Gavini ◽  
Maria Cristina Bonferoni

Nose-to-brain delivery represents a big challenge. In fact there is a large number of neurological diseases that require therapies in which the drug must reach the brain, avoiding the difficulties due to the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and the problems connected with systemic administration, such as drug bioavailability and side-effects. For these reasons the development of nasal formulations able to deliver the drug directly into the brain is of increasing importance. This Editorial regards the contributions present in the Special Issue “Nose-to-Brain Delivery”.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oxana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya ◽  
Ekaterina Borisova ◽  
Vanya Mantareva ◽  
Ivan Angelov ◽  
Ivelina Eneva ◽  
...  

In a series of previous studies, we demonstrated that the photodynamic therapy (PDT), as a widely used tool for treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), also site-specifically opens the blood–brain barrier (BBB) in PDT-dose and age-related manner via reversible disorganization of the tight junction machinery. To develop the effective protocol of PDT-opening of the BBB, here we answer the question of what kind of photosensitizer (PS) is the most effective for the BBB opening. We studied the PDT-opening of the BBB in healthy mice using commercial photosensitizers (PSs) such as 5-aminolevulenic acid (5-ALA), aluminum phthalocyanine disulfonate (AlPcS), zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and new synthetized PSs such as galactose functionalized ZnPc (GalZnPc). The spectrofluorimetric assay of Evans Blue albumin complex (EBAC) leakage and 3-D confocal imaging of FITC-dextran 70 kDa (FITCD) extravasation clearly shows a revisable and dose depended PDT-opening of the BBB to EBAC and FITCD associated with a decrease in presence of tight junction (TJ) in the vascular endothelium. The PDT effects on the BBB permeability, TJ expression and the fluorescent signal from the brain tissues are more pronounced in PDT-GalZnPc vs. PDT-5-ALA/AlPcS/ZnPc. These pre-clinical data are the first important informative platform for an optimization of the PDT protocol in the light of new knowledge about PDT-opening of the BBB for drug brain delivery and for the therapy of brain diseases.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1139-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary A Rosenberg

Disruption of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) has an important part in cellular damage in neurological diseases, including acute and chronic cerebral ischemia, brain trauma, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, and brain infections. The neurovascular unit (NVU) forms the interface between the blood and brain tissues. During an injury, the cascade of molecular events ends in the final common pathway for BBB disruption by free radicals and proteases, which attack membranes and degrade the tight junction proteins in endothelial cells. Free radicals of oxygen and nitrogen and the proteases, matrix metalloproteinases and cyclooxgyenases, are important in the early and delayed BBB disruption as the neuroinflammatory response progresses. Opening of the BBB occurs in neurodegenerative diseases and contributes to the cognitive changes. In addition to the importance of the NVU in acute injury, angiogenesis contributes to the recovery process. The challenges to treatment of the brain diseases involve not only facilitating drug entry into the brain, but also understanding the timing of the molecular cascades to block the early NVU injury without interfering with recovery. This review will describe the molecular and cellular events associated with NVU disruption and potential strategies directed toward restoring its integrity.


Membranes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hernán Cortés ◽  
Sergio Alcalá-Alcalá ◽  
Isaac H. Caballero-Florán ◽  
Sergio A. Bernal-Chávez ◽  
Arturo Ávalos-Fuentes ◽  
...  

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a sophisticated and very selective dynamic interface composed of endothelial cells expressing enzymes, transport systems, and receptors that regulate the passage of nutrients, ions, oxygen, and other essential molecules to the brain, regulating its homeostasis. Moreover, the BBB performs a vital function in protecting the brain from pathogens and other dangerous agents in the blood circulation. Despite its crucial role, this barrier represents a difficult obstacle for the treatment of brain diseases because many therapeutic agents cannot cross it. Thus, different strategies based on nanoparticles have been explored in recent years. Concerning this, chitosan-decorated nanoparticles have demonstrated enormous potential for drug delivery across the BBB and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, gliomas, cerebral ischemia, and schizophrenia. Our main objective was to highlight the high potential of chitosan adsorption to improve the penetrability through the BBB of nanoformulations for diseases of CNS. Therefore, we describe the BBB structure and function, as well as the routes of chitosan for crossing it. Moreover, we define the methods of decoration of nanoparticles with chitosan and provide numerous examples of their potential utilization in a variety of brain diseases. Lastly, we discuss future directions, mentioning the need for extensive characterization of proposed nanoformulations and clinical trials for evaluation of their efficacy.


2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (5) ◽  
pp. C558-C567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Seabrooke ◽  
Michael J. O'Donnell

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) physiologically isolates the brain from the blood and, thus, plays a vital role in brain homeostasis. Ion transporters play a critical role in this process by effectively regulating access of chemicals to the brain. Organic anion-transporting polypeptides (Oatps) transport a wide range of amphipathic substrates and are involved in efflux of chemicals across the vertebrate BBB. The anatomic complexity of the vascularized vertebrate BBB, however, creates challenges for experimental analysis of these processes. The less complex structure of the Drosophila BBB facilitates measurement of solute transport. Here we investigate a physiological function for Oatp58Dc in transporting small organic anions across the BBB. We used genetic manipulation, immunocytochemistry, and molecular techniques to supplement a whole animal approach to study the BBB. For this whole animal approach, the traceable small organic anion fluorescein was injected into the hemolymph. This research shows that Oatp58Dc is involved in maintaining a chemical barrier against fluorescein permeation into the brain. Oatp58Dc expression was found in the perineurial and subperineurial glia, as well as in postmitotic neurons. We specifically targeted knockdown of Oatp58Dc expression in the perineurial and subperineurial glia to reveal that Oatp58Dc expression in the perineurial glia is necessary to maintain the barrier against fluorescein influx into the brain. Our results show that Oatp58Dc contributes to maintenance of a functional barrier against fluorescein influx past the BBB into the brain.


Author(s):  
Gayatri D Patil ◽  
Aditya R Nikam ◽  
Paresh A. Patil ◽  
Aakash D. Sonar

The treatment of brain disorders is particularly challenging due to the presence of a variety of formidable obstacles to deliver drugs selectively and effectively to the brain. Blood-brain-barrier (BBB) constitutes the major obstacle to the uptake of drugs into the brain following systemic administration. An intranasal delivery provides some drugs with short channels to bypass the blood-brain barrier (BBB), especially for those with fairly low brain concentrations after a routine delivery, thus greatly enhancing the therapeutic effect on brain diseases. The nasal mucosa is nearby the brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the drug concentrations can exceed plasma concentrations. a longer retention time at the nasal mucosal surface, penetration enhancement of the active through the nasal epithelia, and a reduction in drug metabolism in the nasal cavity. Indications where nose-to-brain products are likely to emerge first include the following: neurodegeneration, post-traumatic stress disorder, pain, and glioblastoma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Parand Zarekiani ◽  
Marjolein Breur ◽  
Nicole I. Wolf ◽  
Helga E. de Vries ◽  
Marjo S. van der Knaap ◽  
...  

AbstractThe blood–brain barrier is a dynamic endothelial cell barrier in the brain microvasculature that separates the blood from the brain parenchyma. Specialized brain endothelial cells, astrocytes, neurons, microglia and pericytes together compose the neurovascular unit and interact to maintain blood–brain barrier function. A disturbed brain barrier function is reported in most common neurological disorders and may play a role in disease pathogenesis. However, a comprehensive overview of how the neurovascular unit is affected in a wide range of rare disorders is lacking. Our aim was to provide further insights into the neuropathology of the neurovascular unit in leukodystrophies to unravel its potential pathogenic role in these diseases. Leukodystrophies are monogenic disorders of the white matter due to defects in any of its structural components. Single leukodystrophies are exceedingly rare, and availability of human tissue is unique. Expression of selective neurovascular unit markers such as claudin-5, zona occludens 1, laminin, PDGFRβ, aquaporin-4 and α-dystroglycan was investigated in eight different leukodystrophies using immunohistochemistry. We observed tight junction rearrangements, indicative of endothelial dysfunction, in five out of eight assessed leukodystrophies of different origin and an altered aquaporin-4 distribution in all. Aquaporin-4 redistribution indicates a general astrocytic dysfunction in leukodystrophies, even in those not directly related to astrocytic pathology or without prominent reactive astrogliosis. These findings provide further evidence for dysfunction in the orchestration of the neurovascular unit in leukodystrophies and contribute to a better understanding of the underlying disease mechanism.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1802
Author(s):  
Roberta Cassano ◽  
Camilla Servidio ◽  
Sonia Trombino

In the last years, neurological diseases have resulted in a global health issue, representing the first cause of disability worldwide. Current therapeutic approaches against neurological disorders include oral, topical, or intravenous administration of drugs and more invasive techniques such as surgery and brain implants. Unfortunately, at present, there are no fully effective treatments against neurodegenerative diseases, because they are not associated with a regeneration of the neural tissue but rather act on slowing the neurodegenerative process. The main limitation of central nervous system therapeutics is related to their delivery to the nervous system in therapeutic quantities due to the presence of the blood–brain barrier. In this regard, recently, the intranasal route has emerged as a promising administration site for central nervous system therapeutics since it provides a direct connection to the central nervous system, avoiding the passage through the blood–brain barrier, consequently increasing drug cerebral bioavailability. This review provides an overview of the nose-to-brain route: first, we summarize the anatomy of this route, focusing on the neural mechanisms responsible for the delivery of central nervous system therapeutics to the brain, and then we discuss the recent advances made on the design of intranasal drug delivery systems of central nervous system therapeutics to the brain, focusing in particular on stimuli-responsive hydrogels.


Author(s):  
Vinod Kumar ◽  
Sumeet Patiyal ◽  
Anjali Dhall ◽  
Neelam Sharma ◽  
Gajendra Pal Singh Raghava

Blood-brain-barrier is a major obstacle in treating brain-related disorders as it does not allow to deliver drugs in the brain. In order to facilitate delivery of drugs in brain, we developed a method for predicting blood-brain-barrier penetrating peptides. These blood-brain barriers penetrating peptides (B3PPs) can act as therapeutic as well as drug delivery agents. We trained, tested, and evaluated our models on blood-brain-barrier peptides obtained from the B3Pdb database. First, we compute a wide range of peptide features then we select relevant peptide features. Finally, we developed numerous machine learning-based models for predicting blood-brain-barrier peptides using selected features. Our model based on random forest performed best on the top 80 selected features and achieved a maximum 85.08% accuracy with 0.93 AUROC. We also developed a web server, B3pred that implements our best models. It has three major modules that allow users to; i) predict B3PPs, ii) scanning B3PPs in a protein sequence, and iii) designing B3PPs using analogs. Our web server and standalone software is freely available at https://webs.iiitd.edu.in/raghava/b3pred/.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 966
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Löscher ◽  
Birthe Gericke

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) limits the pharmacotherapy of several brain disorders. In addition to the structural and metabolic characteristics of the BBB, the ATP-driven, drug efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (Pgp) is a selective gatekeeper of the BBB; thus, it is a primary hindrance to drug delivery into the brain. Here, we review the complex regulation of Pgp expression and functional activity at the BBB with an emphasis on recent studies from our laboratory. In addition to traditional processes such as transcriptional regulation and posttranscriptional or posttranslational modification of Pgp expression and functionality, novel mechanisms such as intra- and intercellular Pgp trafficking and intracellular Pgp-mediated lysosomal sequestration in BBB endothelial cells with subsequent disposal by blood neutrophils are discussed. These intrinsic mechanisms of active drug extrusion at the BBB are potential therapeutic targets that could be used to modulate P-glycoprotein activity in the treatment of brain diseases and enhance drug delivery to the brain.


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