Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 18, Issue 7, 2017

Background: Powdery drugs such as cocaine and heroin are frequently adulterated or diluted predominantly to obtain more doses and to increase the drug dealer's profits, but also to enhance, to modify or to oppose drug effects. The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the recent scientific literature on medicines as well as on new psychoactive substances, used as cutting agents (i.e. pharmacologically active adulterants) and on the related adverse health effects on consumers, possibly due to the synergistic effect of the adulterants laced with substances of abuse. Method: A literature search up to January 2017 was performed on MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science and reports and documents of international agencies or institutions were also searched. Results: Pharmacologically active substances such as: paracetamol, caffeine, dextromethorphan, clenbuterol for heroin; levamisole, phenacetine, lidocaine, hydroxyzine and diltiazem for cocaine; caffeine and phentermine for amphetamine, have been identified over the years. Furthermore, since cocaine and morphine (this latter as a precursor of heroin) are both extracted from natural products, some impurities and minor alkaloids can be present in the final preparation. In this context, it is worth considering that new psychoactive substances are also used as cutting agents. Conclusion: The wide availability of illicit psychotropic drugs is the most serious hazard threatening consumers. Indeed emergency departments are often responsible in evaluating damages caused not only by the base substance, but also by other eventual compounds added to mimic or antagonize drug effects or simply dilute the drug amount, with a possible harmful synergic toxic action.

Background: Among therapeutic proteins, enzymes represent small and of course profitable market. They can be used to treat important, rare, and deadly diseases. Enzyme therapy is the only available treatment for certain disorders. Method: Here, pharmaceutical enzymes are reviewed. They are categorized in four main groups, enzymes in replacement therapy, enzymes in cancer treatment, enzymes for fibrinolysis, and finally enzymes that are used topically for various treatments. Furthermore, enzyme gene therapy and future perspective of therapeutic enzymes are mentioned in brief. Results: There are many important approved enzymes in pharmaceutical market. Several approaches such as point mutation, fusion protein designing, glycoengineering, and PEGylation were used to achieve improved enzymes. Although sometimes enzymes were engineered to facilitate production and purification process, appropriate delivery to target sites, extending half-life, and reducing immunogenicity are among the main goals of engineering approaches. Conclusion: Overall, enzymes play a critical role in treatment of common and rare diseases. Evaluation of new enzymes as well as improvement of approved enzymes are of the most important challenges in biotechnology.

Background: The awareness of factors causing obesity and associated disorders has grown up in the last years from genome to a more complicated concept (developmental programming) in which prenatal and early-postnatal conditions markedly modify the phenotype and homeostasis of the individuals and determine juvenile growth, life-time fitness/obesity and disease risks. Method: Experimentation in human beings is impeded by ethical issues plus inherent high variability and confounding factors (genetics, lifestyle and socioeconomic heterogeneity) and preclinical studies in adequate translational animal models are therefore decisive. Most of the studies have been performed in rodents, whilst the use of large animals is scarce. Having in mind body-size, handlingeasiness and cost-efficiency, the main large animal species for use in biomedical research are rabbits, sheep and swine. The choice of the model depends on the research objectives. Aims: To outline the main features of the use of rabbits, sheep and swine and their contributions as translational models in prenatal programming of obesity and associated disorders.

Background: Persicaria is a genus of flowering plants generally used for traditional medicine and nutritional supplements in tropical and subtropical East Asian countries. Previous studies have shown that Persicaria extracts alleviate lipid peroxidation, hypertension, and inflammation. Objective: We investigated the anti-oxidative and anti-microbial effects of ethanol extracts of Persicaria nepalensis (Meisn.) Miyabe, and isolated and identified an active compound, MPN-1-1 from the ethanol extracts. Results: Anti-oxidative values, as indicated by the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) assay, were enhanced by treatment with Persicaria nepalensis (Meisn.) Miyabe ethanol extracts, and bacterial growth was inhibited. The active compound (MPN-1-1), which was further isolated and purified from a Persicaria nepalensis (Meisn.) Miyabe ethanol extract by medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC), also had strong anti-oxidative and anti-microbial activity. 1H-NMR spectroscopy identified MPN-1-1 as a 1-ethenyl-4,8-dimethoxy-9H-pyrido(3,4-β) indole compound, which is an alkaloid. Conclusion: Our results provide evidence that Persicaria nepalensis (Meisn.) Miyabe extract has strong physiological activity without any toxic effects, and furthermore, MPN-1-1 can be potentially utilized as a natural dietary supplement as well as an anti-oxidant.

Background: Tocotrienols (T3) are the naturally occurring vitamin E derivatives that possess antioxidant properties and therapeutic potential in diabetic complications. The bioactivities of the derivatives are determined by the number and arrangement of methyl substitution on the structure. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of T3 derivatives, σ-T3, γ-T3 and α-T3 on insulin secretion of rat pancreatic islets in a dynamic culture. Method: Pancreatic islets isolated from male Wistar rats were treated with T3 for 1 h at 37°C in a microfluidic system with continuous operation that provided a stable cell culture environment. Glucose (2.8 mM and 16.7 mM, as basal and stimulant, respectively) and potassium chloride (KCl) (30 mM) were added to the treatment in calcium free medium. The supernatant was collected for insulin measurements. Results: Short-term exposure (1 h) of σ-T3 to β cells in the stimulant glucose condition significantly potentiated insulin secretion in a dose-dependent manner. γ-T3 and α-T3 also displayed dosedependent effect but were less effective in the activation of insulin secretion. Essentially, KCl, a pancreatic β cell membrane depolarizing agent, added into the treatment further enhanced the insulin secretion of σ-T3, γ-T3 and α-T3 with ED50 values of 504, 511 and 588 µM, respectively. Conclusion: The findings suggest the potential of σ-T3 in regulating glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) in response to the intracellular calcium especially in the presence of KCl.

Background: Development of effective drug delivery systems (DDS) is a critical issue in health care and medicine. Advances in molecular biology and nanotechnology have allowed the introduction of nanomaterial-based drug delivery systems. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) can form the basis of drug delivery systems by virtue of their ability to support the transport of cargoes into the cell. Potential cargoes include proteins, DNA, RNA, liposomes, and nanomaterials. These cargoes generally retain their bioactivities upon entering cells. Method: In the present study, the smallest, fully-active lactoferricin-derived CPP, L5a is used to demonstrate the primary contributor of cellular internalization. Results: The secondary helical structure of L5a encompasses symmetrical positive charges around the periphery. The contributions of cell-specificity, peptide length, concentration, zeta potential, particle size, and spatial structure of the peptides were examined, but only zeta potential and spatial structure affected protein transduction efficiency. FITC-labeled L5a appeared to enter cells via direct membrane translocation insofar as endocytic modulators did not block FITC-L5a entry. This is the same mechanism of protein transduction active in Cy5 labeled DNA delivery mediated by FITC-L5a. A significant reduction of transduction efficiency was observed with structurally incomplete FITC-L5a formed by tryptic destruction, in which case the mechanism of internalization switched to a classical energydependent endocytosis pathway. Conclusion: These results support the continued development of the non-cytotoxic L5a as an efficient tool for drug delivery.

Effectiveness of the whole-cell pertussis vaccine is apparent, but improvement in the quality of the vaccine is necessary to achieve strong immunogenicity with a low bacterial number content. Method: Inactivated Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) cells entrapped microspheres were prepared via an emulsification method and analyzed for morphology, size, size distribution, loading efficiency, loading capacity, release kinetic, in vivo cytokines and antigen specific antibody subclasses. Results: Bordetella pertussis encapsulated microspheres exhibited a smooth surface and spherical shape, mean particle size 151.1 µm, size distribution index 0.43, loading efficiency 89.6%, loading capacity 36.3% and release kinetic similar to the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. Splenocytes of animals immunized with new microsphere-based whole-cell vaccine produced greater quantities of IFN-γ and higher amounts of IL-4 and IL-5 cytokines compared to conventional adjuvant-adsorbed vaccines. Conventional adjuvant-adsorbed vaccines produced smaller quantities of IL-4 and IL-5. Bordetella pertussis entrapped microspheres induced both cell-mediated and humoral antibody in mice, evidenced by high levels of IgG2a and IgG1. IgG2a levels in mice were enhanced using the common aluminum phosphate-adsorbed B. pertussis whole-cell vaccine, and IgG1 levels did not increase significantly. Bordetella pertussis entrapped microspheres and common B. pertussis whole-cell vaccine samples enhanced total IgG levels in mice; however, B. pertussis-entrapped microspheres produced significantly higher levels of total IgG than other test samples. Conclusion: Encapsulation of inactive B. pertussis cells in microspheres appears to be a suitable approach for improving the wP vaccine quality, in particular by decreasing its toxicity to obtain good cell-mediated and humoral immunogenicity with a low bacterial number content.

Background: Benzimidazoles are privileged biomolecules which form an integral part of vitamin B12 and have been attracting numerous researchers all over the world to assess their potential therapeutic significance. Objectives: The comparative in vitro antiplatelet activity of newly synthesized benzimidazole derivatives, M3BIM, C2BIM, and L2BIM in thrombin, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and epinephrineinduced washed human platelets was investigated. Method: Reversed-phase silica gel column chromatography, Aggregometry, Flow cytometry and Immunoblotting were used in this study. Results: M3BIM exhibited a concentration (25-100 µM) dependent inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation induced by thrombin (0.01 U/mL) in washed human platelets and by epinephrine (10 µM) only at a maximum concentration of 500 µM in platelet-rich plasma (PRP); however, C2BIM and L2BIM had no response even at 500 µM against thrombin and 1mM against epinephrine-induced platelet aggregation. Moreover, all these three compounds were not inhibited platelet aggregation induced by ADP (20 µM). Additionally, these compounds showed no effects in thrombin-induced P-selectin expression and αIIbβ3 activation, as evidenced by flow cytometry and clot reaction assays, respectively. Besides, M3BIM (100 µM) significantly abolished thrombin-induced Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) phosphorylation; whereas 200 µM C2BIM and L2BIM were not effective on these proteins. Conclusion: This study affords confirmation for the inhibitory effect of M3BIM in a low dose thrombin and epinephrine-induced platelet aggregation in vitro compared to other imidazole derivatives, C2BIM and L2BIM. These outcomes may recommend that M3BIM can be appraised as a prospective benzeimidazole compound for the treatment of thrombin -induced platelet defect and its related diseases.