Analyzing Nanotheraputics-Based Approaches for the Management of Psychotic Disorders

Abstract

Psychoses are brain disorders clinically manifested by cognitive conditions such as hallucinations, delirium, dementia, schizophrenia, and delusions. Antipsychotic drugs are associated with significant side effects such as dystonia, tardive dyskinesia, involuntary muscle movement, and metabolic disorders. Moreover, those antipsychotics currently available have poor bioavailability, drug-related adverse effects, poor therapeutic efficacy, and poor brain delivery resulting from the blood-brain barrier. Conventional dosage forms, which release the drugs into the general circulation, fail to deliver the drugs directly to the brain efficiently. Thus, a rational approach based on nanotherapeutics may overcome these limitations; such approaches can be used for the delivery of drug molecules to their targeted site. Nanotherapeutics are colloidal systems comprising nanosize-range particles and unique physicochemical properties; these properties include plasticity, biodegradability, bioacceptability, versatile surface modification properties, and protection of drug molecules from degradation. The present review describes various nanoformulations for delivery of antipsychotic drugs to the brain; these include nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, nanoemulsion, nanosuspensions, and carbon nanotubes. The review also considers the ability of these formulations to improve drug bioavailability and targeting affinity, as well as their ability to circumvent the first-pass metabolism.

Keywords: antipsychotics; hallucinations; nanotherapeutics; psychotic disorders; schizophrenia.