Recent Advancements in Lipid Nanocarriers for Brain Delivery of Bioactives

Brain disorders like brain tumors, neuroinflammation, and especially neurodegenerative disorders like dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, brain stroke, injury, and trauma affect millions worldwide and are very challenging to treat. The common mechanism in all these neurodegenerative disorders is the generation of oxidative stress due to an imbalance between reactive oxygen species generation and antioxidant defense activity. Bioactive agents are highly nutritious substances that occur in minute quantities in various plant parts and potentially restore antioxidant defense activity. The most explored bioactives include curcumin, resveratrol, quercetin, lycopene berberine, and piperine. Their high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential have made them potential candidates for treating brain disorders. However, bioactives have low bioavailability, poor solubility, and inefficient delivery because of blood-central nervous system barriers. To overcome these issues, a lipid nanocarrier system was found to be a suitable strategy for delivering these bioactives. This chapter discusses liposomes, transferosomes, ethosomes, cubosomes, nanoemulsions, solid lipid nanoparticles, and nanostructured lipid carriers as nanocarrier systems for delivery of bioactives to the brain with various case studies highlighting their advancements. The chapter also discusses pathways to overcome blood-brain barrier and future perspectives in bioactive delivery.