Abstract

The Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) represents a fundamental challenge towards development of therapy for disease in the brain such as brain tumor, Parkinsons disease and Alzheimers disease. The passage across the BBB is vital to the success of a therapeutic platform and nanotechnology based systems provide great potential for solving the problem. This chapter discusses the structures and functions of the BBB, the transport mechanisms at the BBB, the strategies for crossing the BBB, and nanostructures for delivering drugs and imaging in the brain.

Keywords: Blood brain barrier, nanoparticles, nanomaterials, drug delivery, imaging