title: Neuropathic Pain and Lung Delivery of Nanoparticulate Drugs: An Emerging Novel Therapeutic Strategy.
abstract: Neuropathic pain is a chronic neurological disorder affecting millions of people around the world. The currently available pharmacologic agents for the treatment of neuropathic pain have limited efficacy and are associated with dose related unwanted adverse effects. Due to the limited access of drug molecules across blood-brain barrier, a small percentage of drug that is administered systematically, reaches the central nervous system in active form. These therapeutic agents also require daily treatment regimen that is inconvenient and potentially impact patient compliance. Application of nanoparticulate drugs for enhanced delivery system has been explored extensively in the last decades. Pulmonary delivery of nanomedicines for the management of various diseases has become an emerging treatment strategy that ensures the targeted delivery of drugs both for systemic and local effects with low dose and limited adverse effects. To the best of our knowledge, there are no inhaled drug products available on market for the treatment of neuropathic pain. The advantages of delivering therapeutics into deep lungs include non-invasive drug delivery, higher bioavailability with low dose, lower systemic toxicity, and potentially greater blood-brain barrier penetration. This review discusses and highlights the important issues on the application of emerging nanoparticulate lung delivery of drugs for the effective treatment of neuropathic pain.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Discipline, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4000. Australia.
authors.forename: Nazrul
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Discipline, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4000,. United States.
authors.forename: Muzaffar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, South Dakota State University, 1055 Campanile Avenue, Avera Health and Science Center, SAV 265, Brookings, SD 57007. United States.
authors.forename: Shafiqur
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rahman
mesh_terms: D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics
keywords: Drug delivery; drug development; drug targets; lungs; neurological disorder; neuropathic pain; pharmacotherapy