Current Nanomedicine - Volume 11, Issue 3, 2021

Osteoporosis represents a major public health burden especially considering the aging population worldwide. Treatment modalities for osteoporosis are classified into two categories based on the effect on bone remodelling: anabolic drugs and antiresorptive drugs. Anabolic drugs are preferred as it stimulates new bone formation. Currently, PTH (1-34) is the only peptide-based drug approved as an anabolic agent for the treatment of osteoporosis by both USFDA as well as EMA. However, its non-specific delivery results in prolonged kidney exposure, causing hypercalcemia. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems functionalized by conjugating it with homing moieties, such as peptides, offer an advantage of targeted delivery with reduced off-target effects. Here, we propose an innovative and targeted nanovesicle approach to efficiently deliver PTH (1-34) to the bone surface using peptides as a homing moiety. The proposed innovative delivery approach will augment the specific interaction between the drug and bone surface without producing side effects. This will reduce the off-target effects of PTH (1-34), and at the same time, it will also improve the outcome of anabolic therapy. Therefore, we postulate that the proposed innovative drug delivery approach for PTH (1-34) will establish as a promising therapy for osteoporotic patients, specifically in postmenopausal women who are at greater risk of bone fracture.

Background and Objective: In the current era of advancement in the field of pharmaceutics, there is a growing interest in applying nanomedicine technology for active phytoconstituents and herbal extracts. This revolution in the area of herbal medicine has led to the growth of different technological approaches for delivering poorly soluble active herbal constituents or phytoconstituents, and herbal extract to enhance the safety, bioavailability, efficacy as well as receptor binding selectivity of the active entity. These nano-medicinal approaches have shown to be a more effective and reliable delivery system for herbal drugs. Niosomes are one of the novel drug delivery system approaches that have shown promising results when employed in the delivery of many drugs, including herbal drugs. The term ‘phytoniosomes’ as mentioned in various research papers, defines phyto/herbal drugs encapsulated in a non-ionic vesicular system. During the past decade, several research articles have been published on the development and characterization of phytoniosome nano-vesicle along with their in vivo studies as well as delivery approaches via different routes. Methods: During the writing of this document, the data was derived from existing original research papers gathered from a variety of sources such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, etc. Conclusion: This review discusses various aspects of phytoniosomes covering different areas such as techniques and methods involved in their preparation, various factors affecting their physicochemical properties while developing phytoniosomes, their characterization, and several applications and advantages.

Owing to their unique characteristics and diverse surface activities, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely used in various fields of biology. The ease with which AuNPs can be functionalized makes it a useful platform for nanobiological assemblies containing oligonucleotides, antibodies, and proteins. AuNPs bioconjugates have also emerged as an interesting candidate for the development of novel biomaterials for the study of biological systems. AuNPs' flexibility has made them valuable in a variety of biomedical applications. The binding of analytes to AuNPs can change the physicochemical features of AuNPs, such as surface plasmon resonance, conductivity, and redox activity, resulting in observable signals in diagnostics. AuNPs can also be used as a therapeutic platform because of their large surface area, which allows for a dense presentation of multifunctional moieties (e.g., drugs and targeting agents). We present a brief summary of green synthesis, characteristics, and applications of gold nanoparticles in this paper, as well as their translational potential.

Aim: Aim of the current study is to prepare and characterize sulfasalazine-loaded liposomes to improve the bioavailability of the drug and to lessen the adverse effects of the drug. Background: Diseases like inflammatory bowel disease can be treated by anti-inflammatory agents like “Sulfasalazine,” It can also be used to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The biological half-life of sulfasalazine is 5-10 hr; as in the case of conventional therapy, there is a chance of missing the dose. Therefore, frequent administration of drugs is essential to maintain the desired steady-state level. The side effects are thrombocytopenia, megaloblastic anemia, bone marrow depression, folic acid deficiency, impairment of male fertility (Oligospermia), intestinal nephritis due to 5-ASA, diarrhoea, headache, and skin rashes. The bioavailability of sulfasalazine is 15%. This work was undertaken to enhance bioavailability and decrease the side effects. Objective: The main objective of the study is to improve the solubility of sulfasalazine by formulating a liposomal drug delivery system. The major objective is to develop a liposomal formulation with good stability and the highest entrapment efficiency Methods: Liposomes were produced by the thin-film hydration method. Nine formulations of liposomes were prepared by varying the concentrations of soya lecithin and cholesterol and changing the drug ratio. The obtained liposomes were characterized for surface morphology, FTIR, particle size, zeta potential, drug content, entrapment efficiency, and in-vitro diffusion studies. Results: Among the nine formulations of liposomes, F3 was found to be the best formulation with an entrapment efficiency of 97.8% and a zeta potential value of -37.2 mV. Liposomes followed first-order kinetics with a non-fickian diffusion pathway. Conclusion: Sulfasalazine loaded liposomes were prepared with good stability and the highest entrapment efficiency.

Objective: The current paper represents the development, optimization, and characterization of paclitaxel-loaded folate conjugated solid lipid nanoparticles (FA-SLNs). Methods: The ligand (FA-SLNs) conjugated and non-conjugated SLNs (PTX-SLNs) were prepared by the hot homogenization method. The formulations (FA-SLNs and PTX-SLNs) were optimized with various parameters, i.e., drug loading, stirring time, stirring speed, particle size, and polydispersity index, and characterized. The in-vitro drug release study was performed in different pH environments by using the dialysis bag method. The surface morphology and particle size were determined through scanning electron microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy respectively. The SLNs formulations were also evaluated for the stability study. Result: The particle size of PTX-SLNs and FA-SLNs was determined and found to be 190.1±1.9 and 231.3±2.3 nm, respectively. The surface morphology of the SLNs indicates that the prepared formulations are round-shaped and show smooth surfaces. The TEM study indicated that particles were in the range of 100-300 nm. The entrapment efficiency and drug loading capacity of FASLNs were found to be 79.42±1.6% and 17.3±1.9%, respectively. In-vitro drug release study data stated that the optimum drug release was found in an acidic environment at pH 4.0, that showed 94.21% drug release after 16 hours, and it demonstrates that FA-SLNs with an optimized formulation will provide a more sustained and effective release in tumor tissue that is exposed to an acidic environment as a result of the angiogenesis process. Conclusion: In this research paper, different formulation parameters, found to influence the fabrication of drugs into Solid lipid nanoparticles, were optimized for high entrapment efficiency and drug loading. The most important parameters were drug:lipid ratio, drug: polymer ratio, and lipid:- surfactant ratio. Higher in-vitro drug release was observed in pH 4 as compared to pH 7.4. These result data concludes that FA-SLNs formulation was successfully prepared, optimized, and characterized.