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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Sep 16.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Neurol. 2012 Apr 24;8(6):307–318. doi: 10.1038/nrneurol.2012.76

Table 1.

Evidence regarding in vivo applications of nanotechnology in neurodegenerative disease

Approach Drug Model Outcome Reference
Alzheimer disease
Fullerenes Not applicable Rats with intraventricular injection of amyloid-β Inhibited amyloid-β fibrillization and improved cognition Podolski et al. (2007)26
Carbon nanotubes Acetylcholine Kainic acid-induced Alzheimer disease mouse model Restored learning and memory function Yang et al. (2010)28
PLGA or PBCA nanoparticles Cholinesterase inhibitor (rivastigmine) Scopolamine-treated mice Improved Morris water maze performance Joshi et al. (2010)32
Parkinson disease
PEGylated immunoliposomes (targeting transferrin) Tyrosine hydroxylase gene delivery 6-OHDA-lesioned rats Restored thyrosine hydroxylase enzyme activity and motor function Zhang et al. (2003)39
DNA nanoparticles GDNF gene delivery 6-OHDA-lesioned rats Enhanced survival of engrafted tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons with behavioural improvement Yurek et al. (2009)40
Fullerenes Not applicable Iron-infusion Parkinson disease rat model Prevented striatal tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neuronal degeneration Lin et al. (1999)42

Abbreviations: 6-OHDA, 6-hydroxydopamine; GDNF, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor; PBCA, Poly-n-butylcyanoacrylate; PEG, polyethylene glycol; PLGA, poly(lactic-coglycolic-acid).