Potential of Dendrimers as Nanocarrier for Brain Delivery

Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, frontotemporal dementia, and Huntington’s diseases affect millions of citizens around the globe. As per statistics, approximately 1 in 60 Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and at least half a million Americans suffer from Parkinson’s. The high selectivity nature of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) prohibits the entry of all large molecules and nearly all small molecules into the brain. A physical or chemical stimulus can modulate BBB tight junctions or modify drug molecules. Therefore, it is imperative to develop new drug delivery approaches that can effectively deliver therapeutics to the brain without disrupting BBB structures. Drug molecules have been transported across the BBB using several therapeutic delivery strategies in the last few decades. This chapter focuses on the potential of dendrimers in treating cancer, as well as other neurological diseases. Dendrimers have a cascade framework that can be anchored with a many targeting moiety for reflexive trapping and on demand drug release at site of interest.