Drug Delivery CNS Flashcards
What type of drugs could it be possible for them to pass the BBB?
MW less than 400
Less than 8 H bonds
Excludes all larger/ more hydrophilic drugs
What are the 2 endogenous transport systems in the BBB?
Carrier-Mediated Transport (CMT)
Receptor- Mediated Transport (RMT)
What is the disadvantage of simple diffusion from CSF into brain?
Logarithmic decrease in drug conc with distance into the brain (10-20 fold decrease per mm of penetration)
Will only penetrate 5mm, parts of the human brain are more than 50mm away from CSF interface so not good
Efficient drug delivery via CSF route to brain needs to be atleast 5 orders of magnitude more dosage than therapeutic level needed
Increase SEs, toxicity very likely
Why can’t paracellular, lipid absorption and particulate absorption not occur at the BBB?
Paracellular involves route through tight junctions- but can’t as tight junctions too tight
Lipid and particulate are specific to intestine
How many drugs can pass through the BBB on their own?
98% of small drugs and all large ones do not cross BBB unless couple to transporter systems- transcellular
Name the 3 mechanisms of intravascular trans BBB delivery:
A) Transcellular lipophillic pathway (passive transcellular)
B) Carrier-mediated transport (typically smaller molecules)
C) Receptor mediated transcytosis (larger molecules)
Describe the requirements for transcellular lipophilic pathway across the BBB:
Need to be < 400mw and highly lipid soluble (high log P, low H bonding)
Only 6-12% meet this criteria
CNS active drugs need fewer than 7 H bonds (more hydrophobic decreasing H bonds)- hydrophilic drugs less likely to permeate through BBB
BBB permeation decreases 100 fold from going MW 350 to 450
This reflects a polar SA change to 100Å
Name an example of a modification of drugs for the transcellular lipophillic pathway across the BBB:
Heroin (2 acetylated groups)- less h bonding so increase BBB transport by 100x
Morphine ( 2OH groups)
But removing H bonds has generally not proved a useful route to drug modification as H bond blocking groups are either easily hydrolysable or affect drug activity
What is the Polar Surface Area (PSA)?
The surface sum over all polar atoms (usually oxygen and nitrogen) including also attached hydrogens
Can be predicted, don’t need to make and test the molecule
What is the correlation value for PSA and BBB permeation?
Molecules with a low SA are much more likely to be in the brain and less in the blood
What is the PSA of CNS drugs that penetrate the brain by passive transport?
Most have a PSA below 70A2
What is the PSA of most orally administered non-CNS drugs?
Larger values up to PSA 120A2
Describe the process of CMT:
Instead of trying to modify H bonding functional groups while retaining activity, can instead adapt drug molecules to increase their affinity to endogenous transporters
Part of the drug molecule, or modification of the drug, acts as a carrier for the drug itself, being taken up by one of many transporters
Describe the glucose requirement for the brain:
Transported by Glucose Transporter Type 1 (GLUT1)
Glucose is the brains energy source, glycolysis rates of 500-1000 nmol/min/g brain
Material required more than 100x greater uptake of glucose across the BBB than that of the a.a
Why is the GLUT1 transporter needed for glucose uptake?
The amount of glucose required is much greater than what is possible by passive transcellular diffusion (and glucose is hydrophilic) therefore need rapid transport across BBB by another route
Describe the function of the GLUT1 transporter:
GLUT1 capable of being this rapid carrier
Mediated transport (50,000x) faster than transmembrane diffusion of glucose and other hexoses e.g mannose
GLUT1 is a uniport transmembrane protein transporter- one way only
Follow Michaelis-Menten kinetics
Present in almost all tissues, not just the brain
Name other carrier mediated transporters:
LAT1- Large neutral A.a Transporter 1
CAT1- Cationic A.a Transporter 1
MCT1- MonoCarboxylic acid Transporter 1
CNT2- Concentrative Nucleoside Transpoter 2
What are the substrates for LAT1?
Phenylalanine and other large neutral a.as, some small neutral a.a
What are the substrates for CAT1?
Arginine, lysine, ornithine
What are the substrates for MCT1?
Lactate, pyruvate, other mono carboxylic acids
What are the substrates for CNT2?
Adenosine , guanosine, inosine, uridine
Why is L-dopa an effective treatment for Parkinson’s?
As a large neutral a.a, it has a strong affinity for LAT1
Has a similar structure to phenylalanine which is an alpha a.a
How can gabapentin be an effective treatment for Parkinson’s even though it doesn’t meet the criteria?
It is a water soluble drug that is effectively transported by LAT1
LAT1 is specific for alpha a.a (the amino group is in the first carbon after the carboxylic acid)
However this is unexpected as gabapentin is a gamma a.a
Affinity comes fro the cyclic nature of gabapentin, so amine and carboxylic acid positions mimic those of an alpha a.a
Can you use couple a drug to glucose as a way of affinity engineering the drug via CMT?
No- it fails
As glucose-drug conjugate no longer transported, affinity is destroyed by conjugation
What is a molecule used to affinity engineer drugs using CMT and how?
Couple the drug to L-cysteine (a small neutral a.a with low affinity for LAT1)
When drug is coupled to L-cycsteine, get better affinity than cys alone as conjugate is now larger (so higher affinity for LARGE a.a transporter)
Could you inhibit Active Efflux Transporters as a way of moving drugs into the BBB via CMT?
Yes but AETs have other physiological roles so inhibiting them can lead to neurotoxicity and other SEs
Name and describe the factors mitigating against absorption across the BBB:
Pgp and Cyp3A4 both found in brain capillary endothelia
Cyp3A4 acts to decrease the amount of drug absorbed through the BBB
Pgp acts to remove drug back into the blood, may also remove drug metabolites from the cell
Overall Pgp and Cyp3A4 act in concert to decrease systemic exposure
Describe the process of Receptor-Mediated Transport (RMT):
This differs from CMT as the transported molecule binds to a receptor on the apical (blood) facing side of the cell and is then trafficked through the cell into a vesicle before being released on the basolateral (brain) face
This vesiculation allows much larger molecules, such as insulin, nanoparticles and antibodies to cross the BBB
Name an example of RMT:
Transferrin transport of iron into brain by Transferrin receptor (TfR)
Describe the process of transferrin transport using RMT:
TfR is expressed at high levels in the BBB
* Transferrin (Tf) bindings Fe3+ to become a complex “Holo-Tf”
* At neutral pH TfR (sits in clathrin coated pit) is able to bind Holo-Tf
* Endocytosis of TfR and bound Holo-Tf due to pit is able to form vesicle
* Endosomal acidification (pH 5.5) & reduction of transferrin bound iron (Fe3+ to Fe2+) (membrane oxidoreductase) releases iron (Fe2+) while allowing apotransferrin “Apo-Tf” to still remain bound to receptor.
* Classically Apo-Tf recycled to original membrane where at physiologic pH it is released.
* Free Fe2+ in the endosome is transported into cytoplasm by divalent metal transporter (DMT1).
* Iron (Fe2+) transported across basolateral membrane (to brain) via ferroportin-1
Describe the importance between the difference of anti-TfR antibodies with high and low affinity:
Anti-TfR antibodies that bind with high affinity to TfR remain associated with the BBB, whereas lower-affinity anti-TfR antibodies variants are released from the BBB into the brain
Describe examples of endogenous transported molecules in RMT:
Transferrrin, insulin, leptins
Therapeutics can be conjugated to ligands that are taken up by the RMT with more freedom than in the case of CMT therefore need to engineer drug to couple to ligand
Properties of drug much less important than in CMT
Antibody-drug conjugation
What conditions in the front of the eye are treated using ocular drug delivery?
Hayfever (allergies)
Dry eye syndrome
Cataracts
Infection
What conditions in the back of the eye are treated using ocular drug delivery?
Glaucoma
Retinopathy
Age-related macular degeneration
Name the outer layers of the eye:
Sclera
Cornea
Name the middle layers of the eye:
Iris
Ciliary body
Choroid