Abstract
Introduction: Recently, developing peptide-based drugs to treat CNS diseases has gained increasing attention in both academics and pharmaceutical industry. However, targeting delivery of peptides to brain is one of the most challenging problems faced in the treatment of CNS diseases.
Areas covered: After explaining the brain barriers limiting the delivery of peptides, the current review focuses on summarizing the most promising approaches for the enhancement of peptide and brain uptake, including delivery via alternative routes of administrations or using nanocarriers or intranasal administration of nanocarriers loaded with peptide. In addition, the biopharmaceutic, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic details of several successful peptide-based CNS drugs are highlighted.
Expert opinion: Although using nanocarriers or delivery via alternative routes could improve to a certain extent the brain uptake of peptides, the magnitude of changes remains moderate. Alternatively, intranasal administration of nanocarriers loaded with peptide has been demonstrated to be an effective approach for CNS-targeted delivery of peptides.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Siu Kwan Wo for her valuable suggestions in writing this manuscript.
Notes
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