title: Improving drug delivery technology for treating neurodegenerative diseases.
abstract: Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) represent intricate challenges for efficient uptake and transport of drugs to the brain mainly due to the restrictive blood-brain barrier (BBB). NDs are characterized by the loss of neuronal subtypes as sporadic and/or familial and several mechanisms of neurodegeneration have been identified.
  
  
  
  This review attempts to recap, organize and concisely evaluate the advanced drug delivery systems designed for treating common NDs. It highlights key research gaps and opinionates on new neurotherapies to overcome the BBB as an addition to the current treatments of countering oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptotic mechanisms.
  
  
  
  Current treatments do not fully address the biological, drug and therapeutic factors faced. This has led to the development of vogue treatments such as nose-to-brain technologies, bio-engineered systems, fusion protein chaperones, stem cells, gene therapy, use of natural compounds, neuroprotectants and even vaccines. However, failure of these treatments is mainly due to the BBB and non-specific delivery in the brain. In order to increase neuroavailability various advanced drug delivery systems provide promising alternatives that are able to augment the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. However, much work is still required in this field beyond the preclinical testing phase.
authors.affiliation: a Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, School of Therapeutic Science, Faculty of Health Sciences , University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg , South Africa.
authors.forename: Yahya E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Choonara
authors.affiliation: a Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, School of Therapeutic Science, Faculty of Health Sciences , University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg , South Africa.
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: b Division of Neurosciences, Department of Neurology, Faculty of Health Sciences , University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg , South Africa.
authors.forename: Girish
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Modi
authors.affiliation: a Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, School of Therapeutic Science, Faculty of Health Sciences , University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg , South Africa.
authors.forename: Viness
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pillay
mesh_terms: D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
keywords: Advanced drug delivery; blood-brain barrier; gene therapy; nanotechnology; neuroavailability; neurodegenerative diseases; neuroregeneration; polymer implants; proteins; scaffolds; stem cells; vaccines