Nanocarriers as Potential Drug Delivery Candidates for Overcoming the Blood–Brain Barrier: Challenges and Possibilities
Open accessAbstract
The design of a drug that successfully overcomes the constraints imposed by the blood–brain barrier (BBB, which acts as a gatekeeper to the entry of substances into the brain) requires an understanding of the biological firewall. It is also of utmost importance to understand the physicochemical properties of the said drug and how it engages the BBB to avoid undesired side effects. Since fewer than 5% of the tested molecules can pass through the BBB, drug development pertaining to brain-related disorders takes inordinately long to develop. Furthermore, in most cases it is also unsuccessful for allied reasons. Several drug delivery systems (DDSs) have shown excellent potential in drug delivery across the BBB while demonstrating minimal side effects. This mini-review summarizes key features of the BBB, recapitulates recent advances in our understanding of the BBB, and highlights existing strategies for the delivery of drug to the brain parenchyma.
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Tight junctions are the main functional components in sustaining the permeability barrier and controlling tissue homeostasis in the blood-brain barrier.
“In the BBB, tight junctions are the main functional components in sustaining the permeability barrier and controlling tissue homeostasis.88–91”
From The blood–brain barrier: Structure, regulation and drug delivery (2023) · cites this paper as [91]
The Introduction’s “Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB)” section says tight junctions are the BBB’s main junctional component and restrict passage between endothelial cells, supporting their role in its permeability barrier. It attributes maintenance of homeostasis to the BBB as a whole, however, rather than specifically saying tight junctions control tissue homeostasis. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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The blood–brain barrier: Structure, regulation and drug delivery
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“91 They are also known as occluding junctions or zonulae occludes which can restrict the cross of hydrophilic molecules and macromolecules.”
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- Authors
- Ahlawat, J., Guillama Barroso, G., Masoudi Asil, S., Alvarado, M., Armendariz, I., Bernal, J., Carabaza, X., Chavez, S., Cruz, P., Escalante, V., Estorga, S., Fernandez, D., Lozano, C., Marrufo, M., Ahmad, N., Negrete, S., Olvera, K., Parada, X., Portillo, B., Ramirez, A., Ramos, R., Rodriguez, V., Rojas, P., Romero, J., Suarez, D., Urueta, G., Viel, S., & Narayan, M.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at El Paso (US)
- The University of Havana , , ,
- The University of Texas at El Paso , , , ,
- IFTM University (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Narayan, Mahesh
- Venue
- ACS Omega
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2020-06-01
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 12583-12595
- ISSN
- 2470-1343 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7288355
- OpenAlex
- W3030526746
- Cited by
- 274
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 3.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- ACS Omega (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (226141286A)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (1SC3 GM111200 01A1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Barrier Structure and Function Studies
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Drug Transport and Resistance Mechanisms
- Keywords
- blood-brain barrier, nanocarriers, drug delivery systems, brain drug delivery, blood-brain barrier permeability, physicochemical properties of drugs, brain disorders
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