Title:Intranasal Drug Delivery to the Central Nervous System: Present Status and Future Outlook
Volume: 19
Issue: 3
Author(s): Seyed Khosrow Tayebati, Innocent Ejike Nwankwo and Francesco Amenta
Affiliation:
Keywords:
CNS drug delivery, alternative routes for drug delivery, intranasal drug delivery, CNS drug delivery comparison, brain-blood barrier (BBB) permeability, skin, nasal cavity, oral cavity, transport of drugs, pharmacokinetics.
Abstract: Pharmacological treatment of disorders affecting the central nervous system (CNS) is a complex task. Different parameters
may negatively influence effective targeting of the CNS and drug compliance, for example, poor brain-blood barrier (BBB) permeability,
patient forgetfulness or neglect, and lack of collaboration between caregivers and patients. Pharmaceutical science is constantly looking
for new administration strategies for efficient drug delivery to the CNS that could obviate these problems. Drugs can reach the brain
through the skin, nasal cavity and oral cavity, and while effective transport of drugs from skin and nasal cavity to the CNS has been
documented, these studies did not stimulate the introduction of a substantial number of new drug formulations to treat CNS disorders.
Nasal drug delivery, generally used to administer locally acting molecules, is not common for systemic administration, although the possibility
and importance of such systemic administration is suggested by several studies. This paper reviewed different anatomical and
pharmaceutical factors related to drug administration through the nasal route, and explored whether nasal delivery of selected CNS drugs
could improve their pharmacokinetics and patient compliance. This route offers attractive advantages, and pharmaceutical scientists and
anatomists should collaborate to improve CNS drug compliance and to increase the number of compounds that can be administered intranasally.
