SILICA NANOPARTICLES (SiO2NP) USED FOR THE TREATMENT OF DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS)

In the last decade, nanomedicine has investigated the potential use of silica nanoparticles for drug delivery due to the favorable physicochemical properties of these systems as carriers. Specifically, a few studies have focused on applying silica-based nanosystems to deliver drugs into the central nervous system to treat neurological disorders. The present review aimed to evaluate the properties of silica nanoparticles, such as size, zeta potential, surface area, entrapment efficiency, drug loading, and release profile, exclusively applied for the treatment of central nervous system disorders as well as to describe the correlation between biological outcomes and physicochemical properties. Furthermore, the main processes related to the development of silica nanoparticles, such as preparation and characterization methods, were covered in this review to aid the systematic development of silica-based nanoparticles. In the articles reviewed, silica nanocarriers used in neurological disorders did not exhibit physicochemical similarities. Thus, attempts to prospect relations between physicochemical properties and biological effects are still inefficient when silica nanoparticles are used as drug delivery systems in neurological disorders. Therefore, each silica-based nanocarrier must be fully physicochemical and biologically characterized to comprehend how the structural features of silica nanoparticles affect biological systems.