Unlocking Quercetin’s Therapeutic Potential:

The Use of Innovative Drug Delivery Strategies to Remedy Neurodegenerative Disorders

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disorders are a class of diseases characterized by the degeneration of certain parts of the central and peripheral nervous system, affecting millions of people worldwide. The use of quercetin for the potential treatment of neurodegenerative disorders has been heavily researched due to the flavonoid’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, metalion chelating, and neuroprotective properties. However, free quercetin struggles to make a significant clinical impact due to low aqueous solubility, chemical instability, and an unfavorable absorption profile, ultimately leading to underwhelming levels of bioavailability. To ameliorate these issues, drug delivery systems have been employed in modern research, including polymer-based nanoparticles, lipid-based nanoparticles, and metallic nanoparticles. This review aims to discuss modern research on quercetin’s potential in neurodegenerative disorder treatment, particularly with these drug carriers, and identify the most promising configurations for future investigation. Most notably, studies showed that drug carriers for quercetin’s delivery increased the flavonoid’s bioavailability, likely due to protective mechanisms against bodily chemical degradation. Additionally, many studies also found that drug carriers significantly extended the duration of quercetin’s release within the body, allowing for less frequent administration of the flavonoid during treatment periods. Finally, drug delivery systems illustrated the facilitation effects of quercetin’s blood-brain barrier crossing—an essential step in treating neurodegenerative disorders. Though the use of quercetin-loaded drug carriers for neurodegenerative disorder treatment is still a relatively new topic of study, certain configurations have shown tremendous potential. Most notably, liposomal delivery systems are especially promising candidates, and future studies should investigate their use in tandem with PEGylations for quercetin’s neurodegenerative applications.