Incorporation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) enhances nanodelivery of antiretroviral across the blood-brain barrier for treatment of HIV reservoir in brain.

ABSTRACT: Although the newer antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are highly active against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the body compartment, they often fail to effectively tackle the HIV reservoir in the brain because of inefficient penetration to the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In this study, we investigated the potential benefits of incorporating docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid essential for brain development, in lipid nanocarriers for facilitating the BBB passage of an ARV darunavir. The resulting nanocarriers (nanoARVs) containing 5-15% DHA were 90-140 nm in size, had high darunavir payload (~11-13% w/w), good stability and minimal cellular toxicity, and could be further decorated with transferrin (Tf) for Tf-receptor targeting. In BBB models of hCMEC/d3 cells, nanoARVs wit

SUBMITTER: Guo P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7749038 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature