OpenNano最新文献

Growing interest has been seen in non-pathogenic, safe, and effective gene therapy delivery systems. There are many nucleic acid therapies that have been studied to alter the expression of DNA or RNA, such as mRNA, siRNA, antisense DNA, and microRNA (miRNA), of which siRNA has been shown to be useful in blocking specific genes. The development of an efficient nucleic acid delivery method is crucial for molecular diagnostic and therapeutic systems. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with high porosity, good textural qualities, and biocompatibility have been studied for use in drug delivery systems. They are being utilized more and more in combination therapy, gene silencing, and other biological applications, especially in cancer nanomedicine. MSNs offer efficient drug loading and controlled release, and additions can change their characteristics. They are widely employed in target medication delivery, biosensing, cellular uptake, and diagnostics in the biomedical field. Additionally, they have been connected to theranostic drugs for cancer treatment. This review highlights the current state of knowledge of MSNs and their specialized applications as theranostic agents for cancer management.

Breast cancer cases have recorded an increase for the past decade globally. Currently, available treatments affect patients both physically and mentally, prompting the development of a safer alternative treatment, such as gene therapy. Clinical trials mainly utilise viruses to deliver genes though it has adverse immunological issues. Thus, non-viral vectors such as liposomes, an alternative delivery system without immunological problems, are extensively considered. Liposomes, consisting of lipid bilayers made into nanoparticles as a form of the delivery system, encompass a therapeutic gene cargo to protect and efficiently traverse through the biological barriers for effective gene delivery. Various liposome formulations involving DPPC, OCTA and CHOL lipids were investigated. The optimum method was developed for formulating liposomes which involved several methods and techniques producing particles of below ∼300 nm in size and was confirmed via TEM imaging forming spherical agglomeration. The cytotoxicity of the liposome and nucleic acid complexes was determined using MTT cytotoxicity assay with ∼65% cell viability at 2 µg/µl (w/v) concentration, a higher concentration used compared to those published in the literature (µg/ml). Through this work, a formulation of liposome consisting of DPPC:OCTA:CHOL at 18:72:10 ratio with a reporter gene (pEGFP) was developed and has shown promising size properties, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency with a capacity to use at a higher concentration as a potential non-viral gene therapy carrier for utilization in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.

Lung cancer is an uncontrolled and abnormal mass of growing cells with the highest mortality rate in the world. Progressive lung cancer shows a robust resistance to cancer therapy; today no acceptable therapeutic results are achieved with drugs. Gefitinib is an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor and blocks the proliferation of downstream signals that prevent cancer cells from proliferating by inhibiting tyrosine phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor. It also increases survival rates in patients with progressive lung cancer. Gefitinib belongs to the BCS class II drugs and due to its low bioavailability; its clinical use has been severely restricted. In recent years, several research papers have been published on the use of nanoparticles to increase therapeutic efficacy and drug targeting in lung cancer. Furthermore, to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of gefitinib, nanoparticles have been extensively studied and several nanoparticles including polymers, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, nano cells, albumin, and silica nanoparticles have been developed for the treatment of lung cancer. All of these nanocarriers have improved targeted gefitinib treatment of lung cancer and improved nanomedicines for lung cancer treatment. This article provides an overview of various nanotechnology-based carrier systems of gefitinib such as polymeric, lipidic, albumin, and silica nanoparticles for lung cancer therapy. It also discusses the targeted and responsive delivery of gefitinib along with a combination strategy for better therapeutic efficacy. We believe that this manuscript will bring important information for formulation scientists to overcome the biopharmaceutical challenges associated with gefitinib for better clinical outcomes.

Cancer continues to threaten people's lives and health, and the number of deaths from cancer is very high each year. Traditional treatments such as chemotherapy and surgery are poorly selective and have many side effects. While traditional cancer treatments kill tumor cells, they also damage normal cells and cause a series of toxic side effects. Targeted therapy can compensate for the shortcomings of conventional therapies based on nanomaterials. This paper introduces novel nanomaterials commonly used in tumor-targeted drug delivery as well as imaging therapy, demonstrates the types of active and passive drug delivery systems, and gives examples of research and applications in the past three years. The characteristics of nanomaterials for tumor-targeted therapy and their recent research progress in tumor therapy are summarized. This paper provides theoretical and practical support for nanomaterial-based targeted drug delivery systems and imaging therapy for tumors and provides a reference for the development of nanomaterials for controlled targeted therapy for tumors.

Planetary ball milling (PBM) synthesis of nanoparticles involves conducting several trials to obtain the desired size. Mathematical modeling of the PBM process is a tool to tackle the issue of PBM synthesis. In this study, a conceptual model was proposed by integrating the kinematics of the PBM process along with the breakage mechanism of a material to determine particle size at different milling parameters and hence be able to select appropriate milling parameters for PBM synthesis. The conceptual model was tested for hydroxyapatite, zeolite and fly ash material. The conceptual model successfully simulated the size-reduction mechanism in PBM and predicted the particle size of the tested material with good accuracy. The most sensitive milling parameters were found to be the milling speed followed by the vial volume, milling time, and ball to powder ratio. The material properties input parameters were observed to be less sensitive than the milling parameters. The PBM model may be used as a prediction tool for determining the appropriate milling parameters needed in synthesizing any nanomaterial by knowing the material properties.

Vismodegib, first approved in 2012 for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma, is an inhibitor of the Hedgehog signaling pathway that becomes active in certain tumors. However, its secondary effects after oral administration and systemic distribution are severe. In this study, we loaded vismodegib into conventional liposomes, which are typically unable to penetrate the stratum corneum barrier effectively after topical application. We studied its skin penetration when co-administered with empty ethosomes, aimed at transiently disrupting the skin impermeability.The drug was successfully recovered from the deeper viable epidermal layers in an in vitro model. The preparation method for the liposomal formulation is reproducible and relatively straightforward to scale up. Furthermore, it involves the use of biocompatible lipids, thus avoiding the utilization of potentially risky compounds.

The drug efficacy for the pathologies treatments depends on several physicochemical properties of the drug. Among these, solubility is one of the most important and is directly related to the bioavailability of the drug. Ibuprofen is a popular drug used for the treatment of different diseases. However, its dissolution rate in aqueous media is limited, which causes undesirable adverse effects on the patient. One of the possibilities to solve this challenge is loading ibuprofen on the surface of the nanoparticles for drug delivery. However, some challenges related to complicated experimental procedures, expensive chemical precursors, the techniques for ibuprofen quantification, and the loading efficiency continue to be a problem. This work reports the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles and the straightforward loading with commercial ibuprofen in a mixed ethanol/water solution without intermediate surfactants, stabilizers, or linkers. XRD, SEM, FT-IR, Magnetometry, UV–Vis Spectrophotometry, and DLS techniques allowed for determining the samples' structure, morphology, functional groups, magnetism, and agglomerate size. A complete factorial Design of Experiments allowed for comparing the encapsulation efficiency for two exposure and centrifugation times (20 and 40 min) by UV–VIS and Acid-alkali titration. The results suggest that the magnetic separation and centrifugation (< 2000 RPM) were inappropriate for nanoparticle decantation. This produces an underestimation of the ibuprofen adsorbed by the nanoparticles. Under our experimental conditions, 20 min is enough to achieve maximum encapsulation efficiency (14%) without surfactants or binders.

Owing to their unique characteristic features (e.g., nano-scaled dimensions, surface charge, surface chemistry, thermodynamics, morphology, etc.), diversity of functionalization, and great penetrability to body tissues, nanomaterials have been widely employed in various fields including medical and health sciences. The feasibility and significance of nanomaterials has been well-explored as drug delivery devices, diagnostic tools, vaccination, prognostic agents, and gene therapy; however, substantial evidence on safety of these nanomaterials is lacking. The aim of this study was critical evaluation of available literature on the safety concerns of various nanomaterials and conceptualization of vital factors which might help in mitigating the toxicity caused by these nanomaterials. It has been established that various factors such as particle size, dosage regimen, route of exposure, surface chemistry, degree of aggregation, transmembrane diffusivity, excretion pathway, and immunogenicity play key role in inducing the nanotoxicity. By controlling these factors, interaction of nanomaterials with biological tissues, their penetrability, diffusivity, absorption, distribution, recognition by the immune players, duration of deposition into various body tissues, and clearance from the body can be controlled to avert unintended nanotoxicity. Furthermore, it has been identified that surface functionalization of nanomaterials with diverse moieties such as sodium citrate, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and/or surfactants could significantly downregulate their nanotoxicity potential and improve their safety profile. Factually, nanotoxicity is a grave concern which should be consider while designing of any nanomaterials to circumvent their detrimental interactions with various biological tissues.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of TiO₂, Ag-TiO_2, and Cu-TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) addition on the mechanical and antibacterial properties of resin-based sealants. TiO₂, Ag-TiO_2, and Cu-TiO₂ NPs were characterized with FTIR, Raman, SEM-EDX, TEM, XPS, and XRD, and evaluated for cytotoxicity study. After characterization, the nanoparticles were mixed with commercial pit and fissure sealants (PAFS) in ratios of 1 and 2%. A total of 7 groups were made, control group (PAFS only) and experimental groups (1%-2% TiO₂, 1%-2% Ag-TiO_2, and 1%-2% Cu-TiO₂). ISO standards were adopted to prepare samples for mechanical properties, i.e., compressive strength (CS), flexural strength (FS), and Vickers hardness evaluation. Samples were tested against Streptococcus mutans through an agar well diffusion test. The CS, FS, and Vickers hardness were increased for the Cu-TiO₂ group with respect to Ag-TiO₂ but values were less compared to TiO₂ groups. The highest flow rate was measured in the control group which was 8.16±0.06 mm and 9.17±0.1 mm after 3 and 10 mins respectively. In the agar well diffusion test, the control group showed no zone of inhibition, and the lowest zone of bacterial inhibition was found in PAFS with 1% TiO₂ NPs group (13.3 ± 1.5 mm) while the highest was found in PAFS with 2% Ag-TiO₂ NPs (21.8 ± 1.7 mm). Cu-doped TiO₂ NPs showed more biocompatibility as compared to Ag-doped TiO₂. The outcomes were statistically significant for all the mechanical tests and agar well diffusion antibacterial test as the p-value ≤0.05 while for the cytotoxicity test, the p-value >0.05. The TiO₂ addition generally improved both the mechanical and antibacterial properties of pit and fissure sealant.

Traditional wound healing substitutes loaded with bioactive molecules such as drugs, growth factors, and so on have been extensively researched in order to promote better wound healing and restore normal tissue function. The use of nanofibrous scaffolds has enhanced the biomaterial performance, thereby offering a promising solution as wound dressings in the field of skin tissue engineering. In the present study, the homoeopathic mother tincture extract of Syzygium cumini incorporated in poly(ε-caprolactone) nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated in the concentration range of 5 %–20 % (w/w) and its various physicochemical and biological properties were evaluated. The fabricated nanofibers structurally mimicked the extracellular matrix, with enhanced hydrophilicity for better cellular attachment and proliferation. These scaffolds also showed anti-biofilm activity against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus and exhibited superior anti-oxidant activity. Furthermore, the extract incorporation was observed to be beneficial in cell adhesion, viability, growth and proliferation. This novel poly(ε-caprolactone) nanofibrous scaffold loaded with homoeopathic mother tincture  extract of Syzygium cumini might be a suitable biomaterial for clinical management of wounds and reconstruction of damaged/diseased skin tissues.