Pain and the blood-brain barrier: obstacles to drug delivery

Delivery of drugs across the blood-brain barrier has been shown to be altered during pathological states involving pain. Pain is a complex phenomenon involving immune and centrally mediated responses, as well as activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Mediators released in response to pain have been shown to affect the structure and function of the blood-brain barrier in vitro and in vivo. These alterations in blood-brain barrier permeability and cytoarchitecture have implications in terms of drug delivery to the central nervous system, since pain and inflammation have the capacity to alter drug uptake and efflux across the blood-brain barrier. An understanding of how blood-brain barrier and central nervous system drug delivery mechanisms are altered during pathological conditions involving pain and/or inflammation is important in designing effective therapeutic regimens to treat disease.     

Novel Central Nervous System Drug Delivery Systems

For decades, biomedical and pharmaceutical researchers have worked to devise new and more effective therapeutics to treat diseases affecting the central nervous system. The blood–brain barrier effectively protects the brain, but poses a profound challenge to drug delivery across this barrier. Many traditional drugs cannot cross the blood–brain barrier in appreciable concentrations, with less than 1% of most drugs reaching the central nervous system, leading to a lack of available treatments for many central nervous system diseases, such as stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, and brain tumors. Due to the ineffective nature of most treatments for central nervous system disorders, the development of novel drug delivery systems is an area of great interest and active research. Multiple novel strategies show promise for effective central nervous system drug delivery, giving potential for more effective and safer therapies in the future. This review outlines several novel drug delivery techniques, including intranasal drug delivery, nanoparticles, drug modifications, convection‐enhanced infusion, and ultrasound‐mediated drug delivery. It also assesses possible clinical applications, limitations, and examples of current clinical and preclinical research for each of these drug delivery approaches. Improved central nervous system drug delivery is extremely important and will allow for improved treatment of central nervous system diseases, causing improved therapies for those who are affected by central nervous system diseases.     

经鼻纳米递药系统在中枢神经系统疾病治疗中的研究进展

中枢神经系统疾病治疗药物的脑内递送通常受限于血脑屏障。经鼻给药作为脑靶向递药的一种无创给药方式，可绕开血脑屏障，实现药物至脑部的直接、高效靶向输送，在中枢神经系统疾病治疗中具有极大应用潜力。然而，鼻腔黏液纤毛清除力等屏障限制了经鼻给药递送效果。依托纳米递药技术的发展，经鼻纳米递药系统为中枢神经系统疾病的治疗带来了新的希望。本文综述了经鼻入脑递药通路、常见经鼻纳米递药系统及其特性和治疗应用进展，为基于中枢神经系统疾病治疗的经鼻纳米递药系统设计提供思路和方法。     

Challenges for blood-brain barrier (BBB) screening

Whilst blood-brain barrier permeability is an important determinant in achieving efficacious central nervous system drug concentrations, it should not be viewed or measured in isolation. Recent studies have highlighted the need for an integrated approach where optimal central nervous system penetration is achieved through the correct balance of permeability, a low potential for active efflux, and the appropriate physicochemical properties that allow for drug partitioning and distribution into brain tissue. Integrating data from permeability studies performed incorporating an assessment of active efflux by P-glycoprotein in combination with drug-free fraction measurements in blood and brain has furthered the understanding of the impact of the blood-brain barrier on central nervous system uptake and the underlying physicochemical properties that contribute to central nervous system drug disposition. This approach moves away from screening and ranking compounds in assays designed to measure or predict central nervous system penetration in the somewhat arbitrary units of brain-blood (or plasma) ratios.     

Strategies for increasing drug delivery to the brain: focus on brain lymphoma

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a gate that controls the influx and efflux of a wide variety of substances and consequently restricts the delivery of drugs into the central nervous system (CNS). Brain tumours may disrupt the function of this barrier locally and nonhomogeneously. Therefore, the delivery of drugs to brain tumours has long been a controversial subject. The current concept is that inadequate drug delivery is a major factor that explains the unsatisfactory response of chemosensitive brain tumours. Various strategies have been devised to circumvent the BBB in order to increase drug delivery to the CNS. The various approaches can be categorised as those that attempt to increase delivery of intravascularly administered drugs, and those that attempt to increase delivery by local drug administration. Strategies that increase delivery of intravascularly injected drugs can manipulate either the drugs or the capillary permeability of the various barriers (BBB or blood-tumour barrier), or may attempt to increase plasma concentration or the fraction of the drug reaching the tumour (high-dose chemotherapy, intra-arterial injection). Neurotoxicity is a major concern with increased penetration of drugs into the CNS or when local delivery is practised. Systemic toxicity remains the limiting factor for most methods that use intravascular delivery. This review evaluates the strategies used to increase drug delivery in view of current knowledge of drug pharmacokinetics and its relevance to clinical studies of chemosensitive brain tumours. The main focus is on primary CNS lymphoma, as it is a chemosensitive brain tumour and its management routinely utilises specialised strategies to enhance drug delivery to the affected CNS compartments.     

Drug transport at the blood-brain barrier and the choroid plexus

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-CSF barrier (BCSFB) represent the main interfaces between the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral circulation. Drug exposure to the CNS is dependent on a variety of factors, including the physical barrier presented by the BBB and the BCSFB and the affinity of the substrate for specific transport systems located at both of these interfaces. It is the aggregate effect of these factors that ultimately determines the total CNS exposure, and thus pharmacological efficacy, of a drug or drug candidate. This review discusses the anatomical and biochemical barriers presented to solute access to the CNS. In particular, the important role played by various efflux transporters in the overall barrier function is considered in detail, as current literature suggests that efflux transport likely represents a key determinant of overall CNS exposure for many substrates. Finally, it is important to consider not only the net delivery of the agent to the CNS, but also the ability of the agent to access the relevant target site within the CNS. Potential approaches to increasing both net CNS and target-site exposure, when such exposure is dictated by efflux transport, are considered.     

Challenges for blood–brain barrier (BBB) screening

Whilst blood–brain barrier permeability is an important determinant in achieving efficacious central nervous system drug concentrations, it should not be viewed or measured in isolation. Recent studies have highlighted the need for an integrated approach where optimal central nervous system penetration is achieved through the correct balance of permeability, a low potential for active efflux, and the appropriate physicochemical properties that allow for drug partitioning and distribution into brain tissue. Integrating data from permeability studies performed incorporating an assessment of active efflux by P-glycoprotein in combination with drug-free fraction measurements in blood and brain has furthered the understanding of the impact of the blood–brain barrier on central nervous system uptake and the underlying physicochemical properties that contribute to central nervous system drug disposition. This approach moves away from screening and ranking compounds in assays designed to measure or predict central nervous system penetration in the somewhat arbitrary units of brain–blood (or plasma) ratios.     

Drug efflux transporters in the CNS

The central nervous system (CNS) contains important cellular barriers that maintain homeostasis by protecting the brain from circulating toxins and through the elimination of toxic metabolites generated in the brain. The barriers that limit the concentration of toxins and xenobiotics in the interstitial fluids of the CNS are the capillary endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the epithelial cells of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). Both of these barriers have cellular tight junctions and express transport systems which serve to actively transport nutrients into the brain, and actively efflux toxic metabolites and xenobiotics out of the brain. This review will focus on the expression and function of selected drug efflux transporters in these two barriers, specifically the multidrug resistance transporter, p-glycoprotein, and various organic anion transporters, such as multidrug resistance-associated proteins, organic anion transporter polypeptides, and organic anion transporters. These transport systems are increasingly recognized as important determinants of drug distribution to, and elimination from, different compartments of the CNS. Consequences of drug efflux transporters in barriers of the CNS include limiting the distribution of substrates that are beneficial to treat CNS diseases, and increasing the possibility of drug-drug interactions that may lead to untoward toxicities. Therefore, the study of these transporters is important in examining the various determinants of drug delivery to the CNS.     

Multidrug resistance-associated proteins: expression and function in the central nervous system

Drug delivery to the brain is highly restricted, since compounds must cross a series of structural and metabolic barriers to reach their final destination, often a cellular compartment such as neurons, microglia, or astrocytes. The primary barriers to the central nervous system are the blood-brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barriers. Through structural modifications, including the presence of tight junctions that greatly limit paracellular transport, the cells that make up these barriers restrict diffusion of many pharmaceutically active compounds. In addition, the cells that comprise the blood-brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barriers express multiple ATP-dependent, membrane-bound, efflux transporters, such as members of the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) family, which contribute to lowered drug accumulation. A relatively new concept in brain drug distribution just beginning to be explored is the possibility that cellular components of the brain parenchyma could act as a "second" barrier to brain permeation of pharmacological agents via expression of many of the same transporters. Indeed, efflux transporters expressed in brain parenchyma may facilitate the overall export of xenobiotics from the central nervous system, essentially handing them off to the barrier tissues. We propose that these primary and secondary barriers work in tandem to limit overall accumulation and distribution of xenobiotics in the central nervous system. The present review summarizes recent knowledge in this area and emphasizes the clinical significance of MRP transporter expression in a variety of neurological disorders.     

蛋白质转导结构域的跨血脑屏障药物递送

药物递送入脑的主要障碍是血脑屏障,为克服血脑屏障,目前主要采取神经外科手术、增加分子脂溶性、通过内源性血脑屏障转运载体的递送策略。PTD介导跨血脑屏障药物递送是近来出现的新技术,可以方便、高效地使各种分子通过外周血、腹腔等途径,跨越血脑屏障进入脊髓、脑组织细胞。PTD递送快捷、简单、安全,为中枢神经系统疾病的治疗提供了新的研究思路。     

Drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier

The brain is protected and isolated from the general circulation by a highly efficient blood-brain barrier. This is characterised by relatively impermeable endothelial cells with tight junctions, enzymatic activity and active efflux transport systems. Consequently the blood-brain barrier is designed to permit selective transport of molecules that are essential for brain function. This creates a considerable challenge for the treatment of central nervous system diseases requiring therapeutic levels of drug to enter the brain. Some small lipophilic drugs diffuse across the blood-brain barrier- sufficiently well to be efficacious. However, many potentially useful drugs are excluded. This review provides an insight into the current research into technologies to target small molecules, peptides and proteins to the brain. A brief review of the nature of the blood-brain barrier and its transport mechanisms is provided. Strategies to target and improve transport across the blood-brain barrier include the prodrug-lipidisation approach, sequential metabolism chemical delivery systems, drug-vectors, liposomes and nanoparticles. Included is the discussion of techniques to minimise clearance from the circulation by the reticuloendothelial system in order to extend circulation residence time and optimise the opportunity for interaction between the drug delivery system and the blood-brain barrier.     

脑靶向给药系统的研究进展

介绍了近年来脑靶向给药的研究进展，为研制可透过血－脑屏蔽的治疗中枢神经系统疾病的脑内给药系统提供参考。     

鼻腔给药在神经系统疾病治疗中的研究进展

鼻腔给药可以避开血脑屏障、胃肠道降解和肝脏首过效应,经过嗅神经通路直接到达脑部,因而被用于多种神经系统疾病的治疗。本文综述了鼻腔解剖、鼻腔给药治疗中枢神经系统疾病的转运通路、作用机制、临床应用、面临挑战和新技术等方面的研究进展。     

阿尔茨海默病的纳米疗法研究进展

阿尔茨海默病(alzheimer's disease,AD)是一种中枢神经退行性疾病,在社会人口老龄化日益加剧的今天,AD患病率不断上升,其严重程度足以干扰人类的日常生活,危害人类的健康.目前AD的发病机制尚不明确,没有有效的药物可以治愈AD.血脑屏障(Blood brain barrier,BBB)是血液循环与中枢神经系统之间的生物屏障,药物不能穿过BBB,使其在治疗中枢神经系统疾病时有一定的局限性.纳米释药系统可以非侵入性地将药物递送至大脑,通过靶向药物递送,可以降低药物的毒性,增加药物的生物利用度.本文简述了AD发病的几种假说,介绍了与AD相关的纳米药物(Nanomedicines,NMs)种类和研究进展,对纳米递药技术在AD治疗策略中的应用进行阐述和列举,为AD的NMs研究提供思路和参考.     

经鼻脑靶向递药系统的研究进展

鼻腔与脑在解剖生理上的独特联系使得鼻腔给药作为脑内递药途径成为可能.鼻腔给药作为脑靶向的途径之一,可有效地使通过其他给药途径不易透过血脑屏障的药物绕过血脑屏障到达脑部,为中枢神经系统疾病的治疗提供了一种极有发展前景的脑内递药途径.就鼻腔给药脑靶向的依据、影响因素、评价方法、剂型等方面对经鼻脑靶向递药系统的研究现状进行总结.     

Blood−brain barrier transporters and response to CNS-active drugs

Background  

The capillary endothelial cells of the blood−brain barrier express an array of uptake and efflux drug transporters. Regulated expression and function of these transporters govern the central nervous system (CNS) penetration of essential nutrients, therapeutic drugs and, in some cases, toxins. Emerging evidence supports the notion of interplay between uptake and efflux drug transport as the determinants that define the extent of exposure of many drugs and their CNS action.     

纳米结构脂质载体在脑靶向传递体系的研究进展

随着全球环境不断恶化以及社会老龄化程度不断加深,中枢神经系统疾病已经成为社会关注的热点话题,而血脑屏障是治疗多种中枢神经系统疾病的主要障碍。纳米技术已被证明有效用于脑靶向的治疗,而纳米结构脂质载体是一种极具发展前景的新型纳米载体给药系统。通过查阅近年来的相关文献,本文介绍了纳米结构脂质载体和血脑屏障的结构特点,总结了药物透过血脑屏障的评价方法,并对纳米结构脂质载体在治疗中枢神经系统疾病中的应用进行综述。笔者对近年来纳米结构脂质载体在脑靶向传递体系的研究进展进行归纳和总结,同时对其发展前景进行展望,以期为今后纳米结构脂质载体用于中枢神经系统疾病的临床治疗提供更理想的治疗方案,为更深层次的理论研究和机制探索开拓思路。     

Targeting Transporters for Drug Delivery to the Brain: Can We Do Better?

Pharmaceutical Research - Limited drug delivery to the brain is one of the major reasons for high failure rates of central nervous system (CNS) drug candidates. The blood–brain barrier (BBB)...