Potential applications of nanomedicine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and leads to severe disability and even death in patients, causing a heavy social burden worldwide. Among the therapeutics for PD, pharmacotherapy is usually the first-line therapy and is typically the basic treatment for other therapeutics, such as surgery, exercise therapy and psychological intervention. Unfortunately, the existing PD therapeutic agents fail to cure the disease due to their low efficacy, cytotoxicity, severe side effects and poor cell targeting. With the development of nanotechnology and the emergence of nanomedicine, the application of nanomaterials has helped improve the efficacy of pharmacotherapy for PD. In the following review, the current pharmacotherapy for PD and its pros and cons are described. A summary of the nanomaterial types commonly used in nanomedicine and their applications in PD treatment is provided. Additionally, challenges related to using nanomaterials for PD pharmacotherapy are discussed.