Neuronanomedicine for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease: Current progress and a guide to improve clinical translation

Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Jan:115:631-651. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2023.11.004. Epub 2023 Nov 13.

Abstract

Neuronanomedicine is an emerging multidisciplinary field that aims to create innovative nanotechnologies to treat major neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). A key component of neuronanomedicine are nanoparticles, which can improve drug properties and demonstrate enhanced safety and delivery across the blood-brain barrier, a major improvement on existing therapeutic approaches. In this review, we critically analyze the latest nanoparticle-based strategies to modify underlying disease pathology to slow or halt AD/PD progression. We find that a major roadblock for neuronanomedicine translation to date is a poor understanding of how nanoparticles interact with biological systems (i.e., bio-nano interactions), which is partly due to inconsistent reporting in published works. Accordingly, this review makes a set of specific recommendations to help guide researchers to harness the unique properties of nanoparticles and thus realise breakthrough treatments for AD/PD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Drug delivery; Nanomedicine; Nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems; Nanoparticles; Neurodegeneration; Parkinsonism.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease* / pathology
  • Blood-Brain Barrier / pathology
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Humans
  • Parkinson Disease* / pathology