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Published Online: 25 January 2022

Review of Current Strategies for Delivering Alzheimer's Disease Drugs Across the Blood-Brain Barrier

Ka Hong Wong, Muhammad Kashif Riaz, Yuning Xie, Xue Zhang, Qiang Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9688-188X, Huoji Chen, Zhaoxiang Bian, Xiaoyu Chen, Aiping Lu [email protected], and Zhijun Yang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6094-0438Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: FOCUS
Volume 20, Number 1
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20106
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Abstract

Effective therapy for Alzheimer's disease is a major challenge in the pharmaceutical sciences. There are six FDA approved drugs (e.g., donepezil, memantine) that show some effectiveness; however, they only relieve symptoms. Two factors hamper research. First, the cause of Alzheimer's disease is not fully understood. Second, the blood-brain barrier restricts drug efficacy. This review summarized current knowledge relevant to both of these factors. First, we reviewed the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease. Next, we reviewed the structural and biological properties of the blood-brain barrier. We then described the most promising drug delivery systems that have been developed in recent years; these include polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, metallic nanoparticles and cyclodextrins. Overall, we aim to provide ideas and clues to design effective drug delivery systems for penetrating the blood-brain barrier to treat Alzheimer's disease.
(Appeared originally in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2019; 20:381)
Reprinted under Creative Commons CC-BY license

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

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FOCUS
Volume 20 • Number 1 • Winter 2022
Pages: 117 - 136

History

Received: 17 November 2018
Accepted: 11 January 2019
Published in print: Winter 2022
Published online: 25 January 2022

Keywords

  1. brain delivery
  2. blood-brain barrier
  3. central nervous system
  4. nanomaterials
  5. Alzheimer's disease
  6. cell-penetrating peptide

Authors

Affiliations

Ka Hong Wong
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Muhammad Kashif Riaz
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Yuning Xie
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Xue Zhang
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Qiang Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9688-188X
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Huoji Chen
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Zhaoxiang Bian
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Xiaoyu Chen
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Aiping Lu [email protected]
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Zhijun Yang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6094-0438
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (K.H.W.); [email protected] (M.K.R.); [email protected] (Y.X.); [email protected] (Z.B.); [email protected] (X.C.); The Key Laboratory of Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment of Gastric Cancer of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yangzhou 225001, China; [email protected]; Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, China; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; [email protected] (Q.L.); [email protected] (H.C.); Changshu Research Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University, Changshu Economic and Technological Development (CETD) Zone, Changshu 215500, China.
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Notes

Send correspondence to: [email protected] (A.L.); [email protected] (Z.Y.); Tel.: (+852)-3411-2961 (A.L. & Z.Y.)

Competing Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding Information

This work was supported by the Hong Kong Baptist University Special Development Fund (SDF18-0319-P03), and Faculty Research Grant (FRG2/16-17/073 and FRG2/C5-16/0V8), grant of the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2017A05t506027) and grant of the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (201807010053).

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