Brain and bone delivery of drugs

Authors

Abstract


Changes in lifestyle have led to increased prevalence of many central nervous system diseases and disorders. The delivery of drug to the brain as well as to bone marrow has been a major challenge owing to the selectivity of physiological barriers. Several efforts have been made with different techniques to overcome such barriers for effective delivery of drugs to these two targets. These include chemical modification of the drug, receptor-mediated entry, nanotechnology-based drug transport, osmotic disruption, etc. The commonly used approaches, for delivery of drugs to the bone, are drug depots and targeted systemically delivered carriers. However, delivery of drugs to the brain and bone is highly challenging. Although there are various techniques for the delivery of drugs to the brain and the bone, the success rate of such techniques need crucial monitoring. Moreover, the techniques should be assessed for their safety, risks, and benefits to the patients and associated consequences. It is of utmost important that any delivery systems should have no significant effect on the normal healthy functions of the brain and the bone. Depending on the physico-chemical characteristics of a drug, the best method of drug delivery should be selected. Such techniques are discussed in this article.

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