Nanomedicine revolutionizes epilepsy treatment: overcoming therapeutic hurdles with nanoscale solutions

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Epilepsy, a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, profoundly impacts the physical and mental well-being of millions globally. Historically, antiseizure drugs (ASDs) have been the primary treatment modality. However, despite the introduction of novel ASDs in recent decades, a significant proportion of patients still experiences uncontrolled seizures.

Areas covered

The rapid advancement of nanomedicine in recent years has enabled precise targeting of the brain, thereby enhancing therapeutic efficacy for brain diseases, including epilepsy.

Expert opinion

Nanomedicine holds immense promise in epilepsy treatment, including but not limited to enhancing drug solubility and stability, improving drug across blood-brain barrier, overcoming resistance, and reducing side effects, potentially revolutionizing clinical management. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of current epilepsy treatment modalities and highlights recent advancements in nanomedicine-based drug delivery systems for epilepsy control. We discuss the diverse strategies used in developing novel nanotherapies, their mechanisms of action, and the potential advantages they offer compared to traditional treatment methods.

KEYWORDS:

• Epilepsy
• antiseizure drugs
• nanomedicine
• polymeric nanoparticles
• lipid nanoparticles

Article highlights

• The advancement of nanotechnology has provided a new avenue for treating epilepsy, overcoming the limitations of traditional anti-epileptic drugs.

• Nanoparticles can enhance the water solubility and stability of drugs, increase the penetrability of the blood-brain barrier to increase the concentration of drugs in the brain.

• Nanoparticles can be designed to resist drug efflux mechanisms, thereby enhancing the accumulation of drugs in the brain.

• Nanoparticle carriers can control the release of drugs to maintain lower peak concentrations in the body, reducing the impact on non-targeted tissues and the associated side effects.

• Nanoparticles administered through the nose can bypass the blood-brain barrier and be directly delivered to the brain, which enhances the efficiency of treatments.

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.

Data availability statement

No data was used for the research described in the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation [LGF22H090038, LHDMY23H310002], Zhejiang Medical and Health Science and Technology Program [2022RC206], Wenzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau [ZY2019007], Zhejiang Medical Doctor Association [YS2022-2-001], and Health innovation talents program (L Kou) from Health Commission of Zhejiang Province.