Blood Brain Barrier (Bbb) Role in Delivering the Chemotherapeutic Agents to the Brain in the Treatment of Brain Tumors

Abstract

Systemic chemotherapy would be challenging to treat brain tumors. Achieving the required concentrations of the chemotherapeutic agents in the brain would be influenced by some factors like the volume of distribution of the agent in the brain parenchyma, the ability of the agent to cross the blood brain barrier and active amount of the drug which can be transported out of the brain. Because of difficulties to reach the specific sites of the brain, drug delivering in systemic chemotherapy for brain tumors would encounter various failures [1]. Also, there are other barriers which influence drug delivering to the brain including blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, brain-cerebrospinal fluid barrier and the brain tumor barrier. A monolayer of brain capillary endothelial cells is the main part of the blood brain barrier. The interaction between endothelial and astrocyte cells and the tight junctions between endothelial cells, restrict the brain penetration by the chemotherapeutic agents [2]. Lacking intercellular fenestrations and having low ionic permeability and high electrical resistance in the endothelial cells of brain capillaries, make many of water-soluble agents to be unable to reach the brain.