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Nanotherapeutics Engineered to Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier for Advanced Drug Delivery to the Central Nervous System
Jinhwan Kim1, Song Ih Ahn1, YongTae Kim1
1George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Abstract:
Drug delivery to the brain remains challenging mainly due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) that regulates the entrance of substances to the brain. Advances in nanotechnology have enabled the engineering of nanomedicines for biomedical applications including enhanced drug delivery into the brain. In this review, we describe strategies of nanomedicines engineered to traverse the BBB and deliver therapeutic molecules to target brain sites. We highlight the representative applications with materials including polymers, lipids, and inorganic elements for brain drug delivery. We finalize this review with the current challenges and future perspective of nanotherapeutics for advanced drug delivery to the brain.
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