Journal
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
Volume 9, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/app9112219
Keywords
chitosan; drug delivery; brain targeting; nanoparticles; in situ gels; hydrogels; Alzheimer disease; epilepsy; Parkinson syndrome
Categories
Funding
- South Africa Medical Research Council (Self-Initiated Research)
- Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre, University of Fort Hare, South Africa
- South Africa National Research Foundation
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In the treatment of brain diseases, most potent drugs that have been developed exhibit poor therapeutic outcomes resulting from the inability of a therapeutic amount of the drug to reach the brain. These drugs do not exhibit targeted drug delivery mechanisms, resulting in a high concentration of the drugs in vital organs leading to drug toxicity. Chitosan (CS) is a natural-based polymer. It has unique properties such as good biodegradability, biocompatibility, mucoadhesive properties, and it has been approved for biomedical applications. It has been used to develop nanocarriers for brain targeting via intranasal administration. Nanocarriers such as nanoparticles, in situ gels, nanoemulsions, and liposomes have been developed. In vitro and in vivo studies revealed that these nanocarriers exhibited enhanced drug uptake to the brain with reduced side effects resulting from the prolonged contact time of the nanocarriers with the nasal mucosa, the surface charge of the nanocarriers, the nano size of the nanocarriers, and their capability to stretch the tight junctions within the nasal mucosa. The aforementioned unique properties make chitosan a potential material for the development of nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery to the brain. This review will focus on chitosan-based carriers for brain targeting.
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