Lipid-Based Nanocarriers for Intranasal Delivery: Revolutionizing Neurological Disorder Therapies

Lipid-based nanocarriers, such as liposomes, niosomes, ethosomes, transferosomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers and nanoemulsions, have gained significant interest in targeted drug delivery. In brain-targeted delivery, these nanosystems can be beneficial if given by the intranasal route. They can overcome the issue of poor drug distribution to the brain by conventional systems. Colloidal vesicles permeate the nasal mucosa due to their small size and resemblance to the structure of the cell membrane. Other lipid carriers permeate through the nasal mucosa due to their nanosize and higher partition to cellular lipids. Several studies have established the intranasal nanocarrier-based drug delivery, the improved drug distribution to the brain and enhanced cognitive function in animal models. All lipid-based nanocarriers have shown such significant improvement in in vitro or in vivo studies. However, there is a gap between the lab-scale development and its industrial application. This review will highlight the outcome of reported studies on brain targeting by intranasal lipid-based nanosystems. It will help future researchers to identify the potential of individual systems and focus on the ‘gaps’ for their successful clinical translation.