Pathogenic free-living amoebae are known to cause fatal central nervous system infections with extremely high mortality rates. High selectivity of the blood–brain barrier hampers delivery of drugs and untargeted delivery of drugs can cause severe side effects. Nanovehicles can be used for targeted drug delivery across the blood–brain barrier. Inorganic nanoparticles have been explored as carriers for various biomedical applications and can be modified with various ligands for efficient targeting and cell selectivity while lipid-based nanoparticles have been extensively used in the development of both precision and colloidal nanovehicles. Nanomicelles and polymeric nanoparticles can also serve as nanocarriers and may be modified so that responsiveness of the nanoparticles and release of the loads are linked to specific stimuli. These nanoparticles are discussed here in the context of the treatment of central nervous system infections due to pathogenic amoebae. It is anticipated that these novel strategies can be utilized in tandem with novel drug leads currently in the pipeline and yield in the development of much needed treatments against these devastating parasites.

已知致病性自由生活的变形虫会导致致命的中枢神经系统感染，死亡率极高。血脑屏障的高选择性阻碍了药物的输送，药物的非靶向输送会导致严重的副作用。纳米载体可用于跨血脑屏障的靶向药物递送。无机纳米粒子已被探索作为各种生物医学应用的载体，并且可以用各种配体进行修饰以实现有效的靶向和细胞选择性，而基于脂质的纳米粒子已广泛用于开发精密和胶体纳米载体。纳米胶束和聚合物纳米颗粒也可以用作纳米载体，并且可以进行修饰，以使纳米颗粒的响应性和负载的释放与特定刺激相关联。这些纳米颗粒在治疗由致病性阿米巴引起的中枢神经系统感染的背景下进行了讨论。预计这些新策略可以与目前正在研发中的新药物先导物结合使用，并在开发针对这些破坏性寄生虫的急需治疗方法中产生作用。