Drug Delivery Systems, CNS Protection, and the Blood Brain Barrier

Table 1

Different types of drug delivery methods used for CNS protection and tumor therapy.

Delivery vehicle/s	Route of transfer	Method	TM	Advantages	Disadvantages	Applications	References
Colloidal nanoparticles	Intranasal	Direct	DF*	Noninvasive and safe, neuroprotective	Poor release of drug	Use for delivery of local ailments of cold cough	[34]
Lipid; nanoparticles	Intraventricular	Direct	DF	Enhance drug efficacy, neuroprotective	Toxic to membranes	Rhinitis and ischemic brain injury, for tumor, and global ischemia	[34]
Direct injection	Intraventricular	Direct	DF	Less toxic, impose fewer side effects, and neuroprotective	Invasive and toxic	Use for delivery of pain medication within the CSF	[49]
Prodrugs	Oral or intranasal	Direct/indirect	DF	Tissue targeted delivery of lipophilic molecules, safe	Poor biological activity	Largely used to treat neuronal diseases	[25]
Peptide masking	Injection	Direct	DF/RMT**	Cholesteryl group traverse the drug through BBB	Poor biological activity	Multiple sclerosis, cancer and tumor	[28]
Proteins	Transcapillary	Indirect	RMT	Less toxic, effective and safe, and neuroprotective	Difficult transport	Effective against cerebral ischemia, neurorepair after trauma	[58]
Chimeric peptides	Transcapillary^$	Indirect	RMT	Targeted drug delivery, stable during transcytosis	Less permeable	Effective in treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases	[59]
Radionuclides^#	Transcapillary	Indirect	DF/contact	Tumor detection and ablation, low dose, and neuroprotective	Necrosis and lesions	Neuroimaging of brain and neuroendocrine tumors	[60]
LMEFU***	Intraventricular	Indirect	DF	Noninvasive, distribute drug reversibly, and neuroprotective	Cause structural injury	Cancer and tumor therapeutics, neurodegenerative diseases	[61]
Proline rich peptides	Transcapillary	Indirect	DF/RMT	Less toxic, safe and effective, and neuroprotective	Catalytically unstable	Use for treatment of cerebral infections neurocognitive disorders	[62]

∗DF: diffusion, **RMT: receptor mediated transcytosis, ***loaded microbubble enhanced focused ultrasound, ^$fluorescent protein,^#radiopharmaceuticals, and TM: transport mechanism.