This chapter is dedicated to the applications of nanoparticles (NPs) for the
diagnosis and treatment (or therapy) of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Today, the Blood
Brain Barrier (BBB) is considered to be one of the main challenges for treatment and
diagnosis of AD. In this chapter, after a brief introduction about the disease and its
related pathologies, the BBB physiology and the methodologies used for investigation
of the transport of drugs across the BBB are described, together with the main
physicochemical characteristic prerequisites of NPs that may be proposed as therapeutic
and/or diagnostic systems for brain-located pathologies. In the second part, all the types
of NPs (delivering drugs and/or imaging agents) which have been explored up-to-date
for diagnosis or therapy of AD are presented, together with the advantages and
disadvantages of each type. Finally, current accomplishments and future challenges are
summarized.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Aβ-plaques, BBB, brain, liposome, nanoparticle,
neurodegenerative, neurofibrillary-tangles, targeting, theragnosis.
