The discipline of neurotheranostics was forged to improve diagnostic and therapeutic clinical outcomes for neurological disorders. Research was facilitated, in largest measure, by the creation of pharmacologically effective multimodal pharmaceutical formulations. Deployment of neurotheranostic agents could revolutionize staging and improve nervous system disease therapeutic outcomes. However, obstacles in formulation design, drug loading and payload delivery still remain. These will certainly be aided by multidisciplinary basic research and clinical teams with pharmacology, nanotechnology, neuroscience and pharmaceutic expertise. When successful the end results will provide "optimal" therapeutic delivery platforms. The current report reviews an extensive body of knowledge of the natural history, epidemiology, pathogenesis and therapeutics of neurologic disease with an eye on how, when and under what circumstances neurotheranostics will soon be used as personalized medicines for a broad range of neurodegenerative, neuroinflammatory and neuroinfectious diseases.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease (AD); Blood brain barrier (BBB); Brain-targeted nanoparticles; Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Nanomedicine; Neurodegenerative disorders; Neuroimaging; Neurotheranostics; Parkinson's disease (PD); Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT); Theranostics.
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