CNS Drug Delivery for Diseases Eradication: An Overview

Abstract

Central nervous system (CNS) diseases lead to severe disability and account for considerable amount of health burden globally making them one of the most devastating diseases affecting the mankind. Though new drugs to eradicate CNS diseases are much warranted, drug development in this field is going at snail’s pace due to potential limitation of low success rate in clinical trials. Therapeutic delivery to the brain offers superior challenge to scientific community because of the presence of blood brain barrier (BBB), the lipophilic barrier which hampers the entry of foreign substances into brain and drug efflux transporters which prevents drug accumulation in CSF (Cerebro spinal fluid). Further it is assumed that BBB permeability and brain pharmacokinetics alters with pathological condition which further complicates the drug delivery. In view of this altered physiology, scientists have designed some pharmaceutically active formulations of drug molecules which can lodge in brain because of their altered lipophilicity, selective permeability or ligand based targeting. Such delivery options enhance the efficient delivery of active therapeutic molecules to the target of interest without showing any side effects. Such site directed target delivery also ensures improved brain pharmacokinetics of the compounds. This book chapter offers information about myriad range of CNS diseases; unmet needs in their management and several novel methods of CNS directed delivery options for therapeutics to alleviate those nervous disorders with maximum efficacy. In particular by realizing the emergence of nano technology and nano medicine, we have discussed nano technology based formulations and their potential importance for CNS delivery in detail.