ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to provide an overview of the advances and achievements in brain drug delivery systems, providing a wide coverage of strategies and possible applications in the field of nanomedicine. It focuses on the efficient design of noninvasive nanocarrier systems that can facilitate drug delivery to specific regions of the brain and the factors that influence their transport through the bloodstream to the therapeutic target place. Several nanosystems have been exploited in order to accomplish the desired brain drug delivery, namely liposomes, lipid nanoparticles (NPs), polymeric NPs, Cyclodextrins, dendrimers, silica NPs, magnetic NPs, gold NPs, quantum dots and carbon nanotube. The efficient delivery of many therapeutic and diagnostic compounds to specific areas of the brain has been constrained because the existence of a protective barrier that restricts drugs that can enter the brain upon systemic administration, the blood-brain barrier.
