Nose to brain transport pathways an overview: potential of nanostructured lipid carriers in nose to brain targeting

Many of the therapeutics used for the treatment of brain disorders are not effective and not delivered to the brain due to the complex structure and its barriers. In recent years, many advanced approaches have emerged for the brain drug delivery. Intranasal drug delivery is one of non-invasive approach has gained interest because of direct transport of drugs circumventing the brain barriers through olfactory and trigeminal nerve pathways. Eventhough through these pathways the therapeutics have direct access to the brain, the main limitations of this approach are only limited drug absorption, and nasal permeability. To overcome the issues related to the brain targeting via nasal drug delivery encourage the development of novel drug delivery by combining with nanotechnology. This article will discuss pathways of drug transport form nose to brain, toxicity of nanoparticles role and need of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) and recent advance in combination of NLCs with intranasal drug delivery for targeting the brain.