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Review
. 2020 Jan 21:15:445-464.
doi: 10.2147/IJN.S231853. eCollection 2020.

Nanocarriers for Stroke Therapy: Advances and Obstacles in Translating Animal Studies

Syed Abdullah Alkaff  1 , Krishna Radhakrishnan  1 , Anu Maashaa Nedumaran  1 , Ping Liao  2 , Bertrand Czarny  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Nanocarriers for Stroke Therapy: Advances and Obstacles in Translating Animal Studies

Syed Abdullah Alkaff et al. Int J Nanomedicine. .

Abstract

The technology of drug delivery systems (DDS) has expanded into many applications, such as for treating neurological disorders. Nanoparticle DDS offer a unique strategy for targeted transport and improved outcomes of therapeutics. Stroke is likely to benefit from the emergence of this technology though clinical breakthroughs are yet to manifest. This review explores the recent advances in this field and provides insight on the trends, prospects and challenges of translating this technology to clinical application. Carriers of diverse material compositions are presented, with special focus on the surface properties and emphasis on the similarities and inconsistencies among in vivo experimental paradigms. Research attention is scattered among various nanoparticle DDS and various routes of drug administration, which expresses the lack of consistency among studies. Analysis of current literature reveals lipid- and polymer-based DDS as forerunners of DDS for stroke; however, cell membrane-derived vesicles (CMVs) possess the competitive edge due to their innate biocompatibility and superior efficacy. Conversely, inorganic and carbon-based DDS offer different functionalities as well as varied capacity for loading but suffer mainly from poor safety and general lack of investigation in this area. This review supports the existing literature by systematizing presently available data and accounting for the differences in drugs of choice, carrier types, animal models, intervention strategies and outcome parameters.

Keywords: animal model; drug delivery system; nano medicine; nanoparticle; stroke; therapeutics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest in this work. This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Figures of this review were created using Microsoft Office and ChemDraw software, using freely available templates.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Nanoparticle DDS in the pipeline for stroke therapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of nanoparticles used in animal models of stroke based on their compositions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Temporal timeline of research interest for stroke with nanoparticles, expressed via in vivo study publication.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Therapeutic outcome measures for lipid-based carriers, polymer-based carriers and cell membrane-derived carriers (CMVs). (A) Bar chart of the absolute total for each outcome measured. Studies using both empty vehicle and free drug controls (red) are fewer than those using only one or neither of the controls (blue). (B) Radar chart of the percentage-weighted differences in the types of outcome measures used to show efficacy in vivo.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distribution of routes of drug administration applied in animal models of stroke, for lipid-based carriers, polymer-based carriers and CMVs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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