From naturally-occurring neurotoxic agents to CNS shuttles for drug delivery.

Eur J Pharm Sci

Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy. Electronic address:

Published: July 2015

Central nervous system (CNS) diseases are hard to diagnose and therapeutically target due to the blood brain barrier (BBB), which prevents most drugs from reaching their sites of action within the CNS. Brain drug delivery systems were conceived to bypass the BBB and were derived from anatomical and functional analysis of the BBB; this analysis led researchers to take advantage of brain endothelial membrane physiology to allow drug access across the BBB. Both receptors and carriers can be used to transport endogenous and exogenous substances into the CNS. Combining a drug with substances that take advantage of these internalization mechanisms is a widely exploited strategy for drug delivery because it is an indirect method that overcomes the BBB in a non-invasive way and is therefore less dangerous and costly than invasive methods. Neurotoxins, among other naturally-occurring substances, may be used as drug carriers to specifically target the CNS. This review covers the current delivery systems that take advantage of the non-toxic components of neurotoxins to overcome the BBB and reach the CNS. We hope to give insights to researchers toward developing new delivery systems that exploit the positive features of substances usually regarded as natural hazards.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejps.2015.04.005DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

drug delivery
12
delivery systems
12
cns
6
drug
6
bbb
6
delivery
5
naturally-occurring neurotoxic
4
neurotoxic agents
4
agents cns
4
cns shuttles
4

Similar Publications

Background: Neuroblastoma, a prevalent extracranial solid tumor in pediatric patients, demonstrates significant clinical heterogeneity, ranging from spontaneous regression to aggressive metastatic disease. Despite advances in treatment, high-risk neuroblastoma remains associated with poor survival. SLC1A5, a key glutamine transporter, plays a dual role in promoting tumor growth and immune modulation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Tylvalosin Tartrate (TAT), a new-generation macrolide antibiotic, undergoes significant degradation in the stomach and in vivo rapid elimination upon oral administration, resulting in poor bioavailability. This study developed TAT enteric amorphous pellets by liquid layering (TAT/EAP-LL) with pH-sensitive and burst release characteristics, to enhance drug stability in the stomach and concentration enrichment in the duodenum.

Methods: The drug loading layer, isolation layer and enteric layer were formed on the surface of the blank core pellets.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Assembly of Genetically Engineered Ionizable Protein Nanocage-based Nanozymes for Intracellular Superoxide Scavenging.

Nat Commun

January 2025

Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials for the Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, and Frontier of Science Center for Cell Response, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China.

Nanozymes play a pivotal role in mitigating excessive oxidative stress, however, determining their specific enzyme-mimicking activities for intracellular free radical scavenging is challenging due to endo-lysosomal entrapment. In this study, we employ a genetic engineering strategy to generate ionizable ferritin nanocages (iFTn), enabling their escape from endo-lysosomes and entry into the cytoplasm. Specifically, ionizable repeated Histidine-Histidine-Glutamic acid (9HE) sequences are genetically incorporated into the outer surface of human heavy chain FTn, followed by the assembly of various chain-like nanostructures via a two-armed polyethylene glycol (PEG).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microneedle-delivered adeno-associated virus vaccine amplified anti-viral immunity by improving antigen-presenting cells infection.

J Control Release

January 2025

Key Laboratory of Drug-Targeting and Drug Delivery System of the Education Ministry and Sichuan Province, Sichuan Engineering Laboratory for Plant-Sourced Drug and Sichuan Research Center for Drug Precision Industrial Technology, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. Electronic address:

Adeno-associated viruses (AAV) have significant potential as vaccine carriers due to their excellent biosafety and efficient antigen gene delivery. However, most AAV vaccines show limited capacity to transduce antigen-presenting cells (APCs) following intramuscular injection which may cause inadequate cellular immune responses and undesired side effects due to transducing other tissues or cells. Herein, we developed a soluble microneedle patch for targeting the AAV vaccines to the epidermal and dermal APCs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Formulation screening of lyophilized mRNA-lipid nanoparticles.

Int J Pharm

January 2025

Department of Pharmaceutics, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Freiburg, Sonnenstr. 5, Freiburg i. Br. 79104 Germany; ten23 health AG, Mattenstr. 22, Basel 4058 Switzerland. Electronic address:

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have demonstrated their therapeutic potential as safe and effective drug delivery systems for nucleic acids during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one of the main challenges during technical CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls) development is their long-term stability at temperatures of 2-8 °C or higher, which may be improved by the removal of water by lyophilization. In this study, we identified lyo-/cryo-protectants for freeze-dried mRNA-LNP formulations beyond conventional excipients such as sucrose and trehalose as T-modifiers using polyA as a surrogate.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!