Microparticles for brain drug delivery

The usage of nanoparticles for the therapeutic applications is in research for quite a long time. The fruits of the research are come out now. The clinical trails for various drug delivery formulations are in progress. The recent studies of the nanoformulations are well discussed in this article. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3260950/


Eventhough we have many liposome formulations, the commercialization of polymer nanodrug formulations hasn't seen light yet. The recent study of pennstate university research group has showed the sustained release of the microparticles for brain drug delivery. The blood brain barrier is the primary limitation step for any drug to enter into brain. The liposomes are widely used for brain drug delivery as they are having the lipid component which can easily enter into the brain than other formulations. But the draw back of liposomes is the burst release of the drug. Most of the drug will be released within the short period of time. This causes the patient has to take more doses at regular periods of time.The pennstate research group led by Dr. Mohammad Reza Abidian, assistant professor of bioengineering, chemical engineering and materials science and engineering has mentioned that "Brain tumors are one of the world's deadliest diseases," which needs to be addressed with a potential carrier system. Their work has been recently reported in Science daily. In their words. "We are trying to develop a new method of drug delivery," said Abidian. "Not intravenous delivery, but localized directly into the tumor site."
Current treatment already includes leaving wafers infused with the anti-tumor agent BCNU in the brain after surgery, but when the drugs in these wafers run out, repeating invasive placement is not generally recommended.
"BCNU has a half life in the body of 15 minutes," said Abidian. "The drug needs protection because of the short half life. Encapsulation inside biodegradable polymers can solve that problem."

The research groups around the world are trying to have a suitable carrier system that can cure the brain cancer. The work done by pennstate university is one of the good work in a new approach. Hope new thinking in new ways provide the solution to the long suffering problem.

Courtesy: www.sciencedaily.com