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Biomedicines
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Advanced Research in Drug Delivery across the Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB)
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Advanced Research in Drug Delivery across the Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB)

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Discovery, Development and Delivery".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 5771

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Salvatore Valiante

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Naples, Italy
Interests: cell biology; endocrinology; histology; neuropeptide cell line; drug delivery across blood-brain barrier; three-dimensional spheroids; light-sheet fluorescence microscopy; 3D deep tissue imaging; millifluidic culture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Teresa Barra

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Naples, Italy
Interests: cell biology; histology; neuropeptide cell line; drug delivery across blood-brain barrier; three-dimensional spheroids; millifluidic culture

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Advanced Research in Drug Delivery across the Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB)” aims to share different high-impact research articles or review papers about the drug delivery across the BBB. The goals of this Special Issue are to analyze different strategies about drug delivery across the BBB and to improve our understanding of the different mechanisms underlying therapeutic compound transport into the brain. In the last few decades, it has been estimated that 10% of the world’s population is affected by a neurodegenerative disease. Many of these diseases are associated with the difficulty of molecules to cross the BBB and reach the brain. The BBB protects the brain from external insults, limiting the passage of compounds that can be potentially neurotoxic, but also drugs that could be beneficial to treat brain diseases. Consequentially, several drug delivery strategies have been adopted to overcome this limitation and to ameliorate the life quality of patients. Researchers are invited to show the different delivery techniques that provide targeted maximal therapeutic effects and minimal side effects. Recently, significant achievements have been reported in nanotechnology that respect the mandatory requirements such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. Thus, authors are invited to submit manuscripts on innovative nanotechnological solutions for the delivery of therapeutic molecules to treat neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Salvatore Valiante
Dr. Teresa Barra
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • blood-brain barrier
  • drug delivery
  • neurodegenerative disease
  • brain disease
  • nanotechnology

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 6623 KiB  
Article
Towards a Procedure-Optimised Steerable Catheter for Deep-Seated Neurosurgery
by Ayhan Aktas, Ali Anil Demircali, Riccardo Secoli, Burak Temelkuran and Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena
Biomedicines 2023, 11(7), 2008; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11072008 - 17 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1439
Abstract
In recent years, steerable needles have attracted significant interest in relation to minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Specifically, the flexible, programmable bevel-tip needle (PBN) concept was successfully demonstrated in vivo in an evaluation of the feasibility of convection-enhanced delivery (CED) for chemotherapeutics within the [...] Read more.
In recent years, steerable needles have attracted significant interest in relation to minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Specifically, the flexible, programmable bevel-tip needle (PBN) concept was successfully demonstrated in vivo in an evaluation of the feasibility of convection-enhanced delivery (CED) for chemotherapeutics within the ovine model with a 2.5 mm PBN prototype. However, further size reductions are necessary for other diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and drug delivery operations involving deep-seated tissue structures. Since PBNs have a complex cross-section geometry, standard production methods, such as extrusion, fail, as the outer diameter is reduced further. This paper presents our first attempt to demonstrate a new manufacturing method for PBNs that employs thermal drawing technology. Experimental characterisation tests were performed for the 2.5 mm PBN and the new 1.3 mm thermally drawn (TD) PBN prototype described here. The results show that thermal drawing presents a significant advantage in miniaturising complex needle structures. However, the steering behaviour was affected due to the choice of material in this first attempt, a limitation which will be addressed in future work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Drug Delivery across the Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB))
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13 pages, 2600 KiB  
Article
Synthesis and Characterization of PCL-Idebenone Nanoparticles for Potential Nose-to-Brain Delivery
by Radka Boyuklieva, Asya Hristozova and Bissera Pilicheva
Biomedicines 2023, 11(5), 1491; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11051491 - 22 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1370
Abstract
The present work is focused on the preparation of an optimal model of poly-ε-caprolactone nanoparticles as potential carriers for nasal administration of idebenone. A solvent/evaporation technique was used for nanoparticle preparation. Poly-ε-caprolactone with different molecular weights (14,000 and 80,000 g/mol) was used. Polysorbate [...] Read more.
The present work is focused on the preparation of an optimal model of poly-ε-caprolactone nanoparticles as potential carriers for nasal administration of idebenone. A solvent/evaporation technique was used for nanoparticle preparation. Poly-ε-caprolactone with different molecular weights (14,000 and 80,000 g/mol) was used. Polysorbate 20 and Poloxamer 407, alone and in combination, were used as emulsifiers at different concentrations to obtain a stable formulation. The nanoparticles were characterized using dynamic light scattering, SEM, TEM, and FTIR. The resulting structures were spherical in shape and their size distribution depended on the type of emulsifier. The average particle size ranged from 188 to 628 nm. The effect of molecular weight and type of emulsifier was established. Optimal models of appropriate size for nasal administration were selected for inclusion of idebenone. Three models of idebenone-loaded nanoparticles were developed and the effect of molecular weight on the encapsulation efficiency was investigated. Increased encapsulation efficiency was found when poly-ε-caprolactone with lower molecular weight was used. The molecular weight also affected the drug release from the nanostructures. Dissolution study data were fitted into various kinetic models and the Korsmeyer–Peppas model was found to be indicative of the release mechanism of idebenone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Drug Delivery across the Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB))
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Review

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19 pages, 976 KiB  
Review
Computational, In Vitro, and In Vivo Models for Nose-to-Brain Drug Delivery Studies
by Radka Boyuklieva, Plamen Zagorchev and Bissera Pilicheva
Biomedicines 2023, 11(8), 2198; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11082198 - 04 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2289
Abstract
Direct nose-to-brain drug delivery offers the opportunity to treat central nervous system disorders more effectively due to the possibility of drug molecules reaching the brain without passing through the blood–brain barrier. Such a delivery route allows the desired anatomic site to be reached [...] Read more.
Direct nose-to-brain drug delivery offers the opportunity to treat central nervous system disorders more effectively due to the possibility of drug molecules reaching the brain without passing through the blood–brain barrier. Such a delivery route allows the desired anatomic site to be reached while ensuring drug effectiveness, minimizing side effects, and limiting drug losses and degradation. However, the absorption of intranasally administered entities is a complex process that considerably depends on the interplay between the characteristics of the drug delivery systems and the nasal mucosa. Various preclinical models (in silico, in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo) are used to study the transport of drugs after intranasal administration. The present review article attempts to summarize the different computational and experimental models used so far to investigate the direct delivery of therapeutic agents or colloidal carriers from the nasal cavity to the brain tissue. Moreover, it provides a critical evaluation of the data available from different studies and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Drug Delivery across the Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB))
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