Nanomedical Drug Delivery for Neurodegenerative Diseases - Chapter 14: Nanoparticle-mediated delivery of AChE inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

The overall incidental rate for neurodegenerative illnesses has risen in conjunction with the aging population nowadays. Defects in beta-amyloid (Ab) and cholinergic system deposition with the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles characterize Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disease. The cholinergic system was targeted for developing anti-Alzheimer’s medications because it plays a crucial part in controlling memory and learning activities. By blocking enzyme acetyl cholinesterase (AChE), which hydrolyzes acetylcholine, cholinesterase inhibitors can improve cholinergic transmission directly. Moreover, both acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) have played a role in Ab-aggregation during the early phase development of senile plaque. As a result, AChE and BuChE inhibitors were identified as essential strategies for efficient therapy of Alzheimer’s disease by increasing the availability of acetylcholine in brain areas and decreasing Ab accumulation. Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological condition that causes cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. Such as acetylcholinesterase inhibitor medications, traditional therapeutic approaches always failed due to poor solubility and bioavailability. This results from the insufficient ability to pass the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Therapies were enhanced by nanotechnological treatments such as the design, testing, manufacture, and application of nanometer drug delivery devices. The examples of nanotechnologies were liquid crystals, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanoemulsions, polymeric nanoparticles, microemulsions, and nanostructured lipid carriers. These were intriguing techniques for delivering therapeutic devices to the brain through various pathways, especially the intranasal pathway. We highlight a few newly updated nano drug delivery technologies implemented in Alzheimer’s disease therapies and prospects for the future regarding potential molecular mechanisms of nano drug delivery methods.