Cell delivery to the central nervous system

A dysfunctional central nervous system (CNS) resulting from neurological di sorders and diseases impacts all of humanity. The outcome presents a stagge ring health care issue with a tremendous potential for developing intervent ive therapies. The delivery of therapeutic molecules to the CNS has been ha mpered by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). To circumvent this barrier, putative therapeutic molecules have been delivered to the CNS by such methods as pumps/osmotic pumps, osmotic opening of the BBB, sustained polymer release systems and cell delivery via site-specific transplantation of cells. This review presents an overview of some of the CNS delivery tec hnologies with special emphasis on transplantation of cells with and withou t the use of polymer encapsulation technology. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved.