Enhancement of nose-to-brain delivery of hydrophilic macromolecules with stearate- or polyethylene glycol-modified arginine-rich peptide.

Recently, nose-to-brain delivery is a highly versatile route, which, in combination with novel drugs being developed for treating intractable CNS diseases, is a promising approach for the treatment of disorders. Furthermore, nano-sized drug carriers may improve nose-to-brain drug delivery by their capability to increase the transmucosal penetration of the drugs across nasal mucosal tissue barrier. However, there is still not enough information regarding mechanism of absorption pathway from nasal cavity to brain using nanocarriers. In this study, to investigate the nose-to-brain transport pathway using nanocarriers, the distribution in whole brain, nasal mucosa, and trigeminal nerve after intranasal administration of two kinds of nanocarriers which have hydrophobic or hydrophilic moiety. We used CHHRRRRHHC peptide (CH2R4H2C) as basic peptide carriers, and modified with stearic acid (STR) as a hydrophobic moiety (STR-CH2R4H2C) or polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based block copolymer (PEG-PCL) as hydrophilic moiety (PEG-PCL-CH2R4H2C). The nose-to-brain drug delivery can be improved by using STR-CH2R4H2C and PEG-PCL-CH2R4H2C as carriers. Specifically, hydrophobic STR-CH2R4H2C is more suitable for the transport of drugs targeting the forebrain, while PEG-PCL-modified CH2R4H2C is more suitable for transporting drugs targeting the hindbrain or whole brain tissue. In conclusion, the results of this study support the possibility that drug delivery pathways can be controlled depending on the properties of different carrier complexes.

Intranasal delivery of camptothecin-loaded tat-modified nanomicells for treatment of intracranial brain tumors.

The blood-brain barrier is a substantial obstacle for delivering anticancer agents to brain tumors, and new strategies for bypassing it are sorely needed for brain tumor therapy. Intranasal delivery provides a practical, noninvasive method for delivering therapeutic agents to the brain. Intranasal application of nano-sized micelles that have been modified with Tat peptide facilitates brain delivery of fluorescent model materials. In this study, we evaluated a nose-to-brain delivery system for brain tumor therapy. We nasally administered the anti-tumor drug camptothecin (CPT) in solution and in methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG)/poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) amphiphilic block copolymers (MPEG-PCL) and cell penetrating peptide, Tat analog-modified MPEG-PCL (MPEG-PCL-Tat) MPEG-PCL-Tat to rats bearing intracranial glioma tumors and quantified the cytotoxicity against glioma cells, and the therapeutic effects. CPT-loaded MPEG-PCL-Tat micelles showed higher cytotoxicity than CPT-loaded MPEG-PCL. CPT-free MPEG-PCL-Tat didn't show any cytotoxicity, even at high concentrations (2 mmol/mL). CPT-loaded MPEG-PCL-Tat micelles significantly prolonged the median survival of rats. These results indicate that intranasal delivery of anti-cancer drugs with cell penetrating peptide-modified nanomicelles might be an effective therapy for brain tumors.