Intranasal delivery of mucoadhesive nanocarriers: a viable option for Parkinson’s disease treatment?

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Intranasal drug delivery is a largely unexplored, promising approach for the treatment of various neurological disorders. However, due to the challenging constraints available in the pathway of nose-to-brain delivery, finding an effective treatment for Parkinsonism is still an impending mission for research workers. This warrants development of novel treatment alternatives for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Intranasal delivery of mucoadhesive nanocarriers is one such novel approach which might help in curbing the glitches associated with the currently available therapy.

Areas covered: This review summarizes the evidences supporting nose-to-brain delivery of polymer-based mucoadhesive nanocarriers for the treatment of PD. A concise insight into the lipid-based mucoadhesive nanocarriers has also been presented. The recent researches have been compiled pertaining to the use of mucoadhesive nanocarrriers for improving the treatment outcomes of PD via intranasal drug delivery.

Expert opinion: Although the use of nanocarrier-based strategies for site-specific delivery via intranasal route has proven effective, the magnitude of improvement remains moderate resulting in limited translation from industry to the market. Comprehensive understanding of the mucoadhesive polymer, its characteristics and mechanisms involved for an effective nose-to-brain uptake of the drug is a promising avenue to develop novel formulations for effective management of Parkinson disease.

KEYWORDS:

• Blood-brain barrier
• intranasal
• mucoadhesive
• nanotechnology
• Parkinson’s disease

Article highlights

• Effective therapy for Parkinsonism is missing partly due to the complex brain structure and partly due to the putative multifactorial pathogenic mechanisms.

• Intranasal drug delivery of various nanoformulations is a promising approach for delivering the therapeutic agents directly to the brain.

• Various polymer and lipid-based nanoformulations having unique and easily tailorable properties are exploited for drug delivery to the brain.

• The mucoadhesive carriers employed in several nanoformulations is responsible for prolonging the residence time of drugs in the nasal area and counteracting mucociliary clearance.

• Intranasal delivery of mucoadhesive nanocarriers could revolutionize the treatment of Parkinson’s disease by providing faster drug absorption and controlled drug release with minimal side effects.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – 45/32/2019-Nan/BMS.