Advances in Neurotherapeutic Delivery Technologies

All book chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. However, users who aim to disseminate and distribute copies of this book as a whole must not seek monetary compensation for such service (excluded OMICS Group representatives and agreed collaborations). After this work has been published by OMICS Group, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. Statements and opinions expressed in the book are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Abstract Study background: The delivery of therapeutic drugs to the brain is a challenging task despite the fact that brain is highly accessible for other substances like nutrients and oxygen. Effective targeting of drugs to the CNS is essential for future success of neurotherapeutics; however the delivery of potentially effective neurotherapeutics to specific areas of the brain is restricted by Blood-Brain-Barrier (BBB). Convection-Enhanced Delivery (CED) has proven to overcome this challenge. Methods: ICED is a method that employs a fluid pressure gradient established at the tip of an infusion catheter and bulk flow to propagate substances within the extracellular fluid space. This allows for safe, targeted, reliable homogeneous delivery of small and large molecular weight substances in a manner that bypasses the BBB. This Chapter seeks to provide a detailed overview of several CED methods that have been used to enhance the delivery of drugs to the brain for the treatment of various neurological diseases, assessing most the success, problem areas and the future strategies for using CED. The discussion of these methods ranges from among others i) Employment of catheters for CED; ii) Computer-aided drug distribution in CED; iii) Image-guided CED; iv) Laser energy-aided CED and v) Time-reversal techniques in …