Intranasal Pathway for Nanoparticles to Enter the Central Nervous System

Intranasal administration was previously proposed for delivering drugs for central nervous system (CNS) diseases. However, the delivery and elimination pathways, which are very imperative to know for exploring the therapeutic applications of any given CNS drugs, remain far from clear. Because lipophilicity has a high priority in the design of CNS drugs, the as-prepared CNS drugs tend to form aggregates. Therefore, a PEGylated Fe3O4 nanoparticle labeled with a fluorescent dye was prepared as a model drug and studied to elucidate the delivery pathways of intranasally administered nanodrugs. Through magnetic resonance imaging, the distribution of the nanoparticles was investigated in vivo. Through ex vivo fluorescence imaging and microscopy studies, more precise distribution of the nanoparticles across the entire brain was disclosed. Moreover, the elimination of the nanoparticles from cerebrospinal fluid was carefully studied. The temporal dose levels of intranasally delivered nanodrugs in different parts of the brain were also investigated.

Automated summary

The delivery and elimination pathways of intranasally administered nanodrugs were investigated using a PEGylated Fe3O4 nanoparticle labeled with a fluorescent dye. The distribution and elimination of the nanoparticles in the brain were studied through magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence imaging, providing important insights for therapeutic applications of CNS drugs.