الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Central nervous system (CNS) diseases (e.g., multiple sclerosis, Parkinson{u2019}s or Alzheimer{u2019}s disease, migraine, etc.) represent a growing public health issue. The treatment of such disorders requires the delivery of therapeutics to the brain in appropriate amounts to exert a pharmacological response. However, despite the major advances both in neuroscience and drug delivery research, drug delivery to the brain is still a challenge, because of two physiological barriers separating the brain from its blood supply controlling the transport of compounds; the blood brain barrier (BBB) and the other is the blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). To cross BBB in significant amounts, a small molecule drug must have two important characteristics; molecular mass less than 400 Da and high lipid solubility. Migraine was ranked by The World Health Organization (WHO) as the 19th disabling disease. According to the International Headache Society (IHS), migraine is a chronic recurrent, disabling condition characterized by recurrent episodes of unilateral, throbbing, head pain associated by nausea and/or vomiting; photophobia and phonophobia. The pharmacologic therapies for migraine can be broadly divided into two categories: {u2022}Non-specific therapies such as analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and antiemetics, and {u2022}Specific migraine therapies such as triptans (5-HT1B/1D receptor agonists) or, less commonly, ergot derivatives and opiates. Triptans represent the first treatment choice for migraine attacks. Triptans are agonists of serotonin 5-HT1B and 5-HT1D receptors. They work on migraine in three different mechanisms; (i) cranial vasoconstriction, (ii) inhibition of peptide release from trigeminal nerve endings, and (iii) inhibition of nociceptive transmission of the trigeminocervical complex |