Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 30, Issue 23, 2023

Background: In recent years, numerous scientists have gained interest in nanotechnology- based systems, especially for biomedical applications. Then, nanocarriers present tunable abilities and can be easily functionalized to target specific epithelial cells, tissues, and organs, while various materials can be chosen and generate nanosized particles. At present, nanoparticles that possess bioadhesion have been studied as potent drug carriers since they can easily penetrate and target organs. Objective: Aim of this study was to explore the various applications of the bioadhesive nanoparticles found in the literature. Methods: Authors have studied the literature finding that bioadhesive nanoparticles can be administered via routes such as oral, topical, ocular, dermal, vaginal, etc., according to the clinician’s opinion and treatment choice. Therefore, the knowledge of general characteristics of bioadhesive nanoparticles, the bioadhesion theory, and other properties of nanoparticles should be known for developing innovative bioadhesive drug nanocarriers. Results: In this review article, the authors state the current knowledge of theories. In addition, the present categories of nanoparticles and their basic characteristics are also discussed. Finally, the biomedical applications of bioadhesive nanocarriers and the several administration routes are extensively reviewed. Conclusion: The review article aims to cover the most current bioadhesive nanoparticles for drug delivery to assist any scientist who desires to study or develop innovative bioadhesive formulations.

Tyrosinase is a bifunctional polyphenol oxidase (PPO), catalyzing two oxidative reactions: monophenols to o-quinones (monophenolase activity) and o-diphenols to oquinones (diphenolase activity). As tyrosinase is the rate-limiting enzyme for the melanogenesis process, it is an attractive target for melanogenesis inhibition. Aiming at skin whitening, anticancer, Parkinson’s disease (PD) treatment, antibacterial, fruit and vegetable preservation and other anti-pigmentation effect, medicinal chemists have exploited diverse tyrosinase inhibitors through various approaches. In addition to discovering inhibitors with novel scaffolds, good activity and high safety, researchers also focused on developing strategies for synergistic effects of multiple inhibitors and simultaneously regulating multiple targets to treat cancer or neurodegenerative diseases. This review focused on multiple natural and synthetic tyrosinase inhibitors, which could contribute to preventing fruit and vegetable browning, skin whitening, antibacterial, anticancer, Parkinson's Disease, etc.

2-Oxazolidinone is well known as a pharmacophore for antibacterial agents represented by two marketed medicines, Linezolid and Tedizolid. On the other hand, there are growing reports on the various biological activities of 2-oxazolidinones beyond antibacterial activities. Therefore, in this review, we provide an overview of the progress of this untraditional area of 2-oxazolidinones in the past 10 years (2011-2021).

Background: Due to the importance of amiodarone-induced hyperthyroidism in patients with heart failure, the purpose of the present systematic review and metaanalysis was to determine the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism) in patients with heart disease who received amiodarone. Methods: Electronic databases including Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct were searched by two investigators. To assess the heterogeneity between the included studies, the chi-square χ²; test (α=0.05) and I² index were used. Additionally, a random-effects model with 95% CI was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of thyroid dysfunction due to the heterogeneity of the studies. To identify the cause of heterogeneity, a meta-regression analysis was employed. All analyses were performed using Stata ver13 (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). Results: The pooled prevalence of hypothyroidism was 23.43% (95% CI: 11.54-35.33) and hyperthyroidism was 11.61% (95% CI: 7.20-16.02). There was no significant association between the prevalence of hypothyroidism and the year of the study (p=0.152), sample size (p=0.805), and mean age of subjects in the sample groups (p=0.623). However, there was a significant association between the prevalence of hyperthyroidism and the year of the study (p=0.037), but no statistically significant association between either the prevalence of hyperthyroidism and sample size (p=0.425), or the prevalence of hyperthyroidism and the mean age of subjects in the sample groups (p=0.447). Conclusion: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with cardiac arrhythmias receiving amiodarone was considerable. Extreme care should be exercised to improve the monitoring of any thyroid abnormalities that may arise in patients receiving amiodarone.