¹Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
²Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), Cairo, Egypt DOI : 10.29228/jrp.717 In spite of the great advance in drug delivery systems (DDSs) for the control of the neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and seizures, yet there is a demand for innovative DDSs for brain targeting. The biggest hurdle for directing the drug to the brain is the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) which hampers the passage of medicants to the brain. Many recent approaches to allow carriage of medicaments to the brain have come out during the last twenty years. Intranasal delivery of drugs is one of these approaches which can bypass the BBB in a noninvasive way. Lipid nanocapsules (LNCs) act as an appropriate platform and novel strategy for nose to brain drug delivery due to their several advantages. They can be produced in a quick, simple, solvent-free and scalable-up process. Therefore, this review depicts mechanisms of nose-to-brain drug delivery and the several approaches for improving nasal absorption of drugs with a special emphasis on lipid nanocapsules-based approaches. It discusses the composition and method of preparation of LNCs, their advantages and their application in nose to brain drug delivery. The upcoming prospect of nasal drug delivery to the brain is also discussed. Keywords : Neurological disorders; Blood–brain barrier; Brain targeting; Intranasal delivery; Nanocapsules