Advances in the Design and Optimization of Nanomedicine for Brain Delivery

Dear Colleagues,

Neurodegenerative diseases still represent a global challenge in scientific and social communities. Nanomedicine has become a promising strategy to overcome the limitations of conventional therapeutics by providing platforms that increase treatment efficacy, and by enabling specific targeting to achieve the desired responses. The design of nanomedicines with a rigorous quality profile is a demanding procedure since several aspects have to be tuned and controlled. Design of experiments (DoE) is an emerging tool to reduce the gap from bench to bedside and obtain a quality product, reducing the time and costs of pre-formulative investigations. DoE is an integral part of pharmaceutical development at the industrial level and allows for more promising technology transfer from lab to industrial scale. Currently, academic researchers whose ambitions lie in translational science are focused on its application to nanomedicine research as an alternative to the traditional approach, OVAT (one variable at a time). In this context, polymeric, lipidic and hybrid nanosystems offer a wide platform to load several types of drugs (small molecules, peptides, proteins and oligonucleotides) in order to access the brain region through indirect or direct pathways (i.e., systemic, nose-to-brain route). This Special Issue serves to highlight and capture the contemporary progress and current landscape of nanomedicine for brain disorders. We invite original and review articles on all aspects of the design and optimization of nanomedicine for central nervous system disorders including their characterization, application and in vitro and/or in vivo investigations.

Dr. Angela Bonaccorso
Prof. Dr. Teresa Musumeci
Dr. Maria Rosa Gigliobianco
Prof. Dr. Piera Di Martino
Guest Editors

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