Therapeutic Intranasal Delivery for Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related detrimental neurodegenerative disorder with no effective treatment, which is clinically characterized by progressive memory decline and cognitive dysfunction, altered decision making, apraxia, language disturbances, etc., and often histologically manifested by the deposition of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques and the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. AD is a global health crisis, currently, more than 35 million people worldwide were estimated to be afflicted by AD, and the number is expect to increase with the aging of the society. Current therapy is based on neurotransmitter or enzyme replacement/modulation, and recently, stem cells therapy is proposed as a promising strategy for AD. However, effective strategies for AD treatment has not been achieved. One of the major problems is the blood–brain barrier (BBB), which hampers drug delivery into the brain. Intranasal (IN) route will overcome this obstacle by delivering drugs or cells directly to the central nervous system (CNS) through the olfactory and trigeminal neural pathways. Here, we demonstrate how intranasal delivery systems works and its advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, we discuss and summarize some latest findings on IN delivery of drug and cell in AD models, with a focus on the potential efficacy of treatments for AD.