Biolmpacts
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Mar 2014

Nanomaterials have great impacts on life sciences; however, these advanced materials may induce inadvertant consequences. Thus, this editorial will highlight the futuristic challenges in green nanotechnology.

To date, a growing number of advanced anticancer nanomedicines (e.g., Doxil®, Lipoxal®, DepoCyte®) have entered into different phases of clinical trials. However, most of these medicaments fail to differentiate between diseased and normal cells. They also do not havecapability of real time monitoring of disease status trough on-demand imaging/sensing of target molecule(s). Multifunctional nanomedicines and theranostics can resolve such limitations, while formulation of these advanced seamless systems appear to involve various sophisticated process, exploiting several bioconjugations. Recent works upon multifunctional nanomedicines for simultaneous imaging and therapy of cancer have been systematically reviewed, focusing on surface modification and application of advanced nanobiomaterials. Ultimate therapy of malignancies, as complex systems, demands implementation of seamless nanosystems (NSs) that can specifically target the cancerous cells and smartly deliver the anticancer agent(s) into the desired target site. Engineering of such NSs requires in situ coordination of various technologies (e.g., synthesis, surface modification and bioconjugation) in order to achieve improved pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics outcomes. Seamless multimodal NSs have potential to simultaneously target and monitor the tumor cells through homing and imaging/sensing devices and deliver the therapeutic agents. However, to achieve superior pharmacokinetics with maximal efficacy and minimal side effects, these advanced NSs need to become much more intelligent to sense the disease condition and liberate therapeutics on demand.

Application of nanoparticles as radio sensitizer is a promising field to improve efficiency of radiotherapy. This study was conducted to review nano radio sensitizers. PubMed, Ovid Medline, Science Direct, Scopus, ISI web of knowledge, and Springer databases were searched from 2000 to May 2013 to identify relevant studies. Search was restricted to English language. We included any study that evaluated nanoparticles, volunteer of radio enhancement at radiotherapy on animals or cell lines. Nanoparticles can increase radio sensitivity of tumor cells. This effect was shown in vivo and in vitro, at kilovltage or megavoltage energies, in 24 reviewed studies. Focus of studies was on gold nanoparticles. Radio sensitizing effects of nanoparticles depend on nanoparticles’ size, type, concentration, intracellular localization, used irradiation energy and tested cell line. Literature suggests potency of nanoparticles for increasing cell radio sensitivity. Reviewed results are promising and warrant future clinical trials.

Nowadays, finding new therapeutic compounds from natural products for treatment and prevention of a variety of diseases including cardiovascular disorders is getting a great deal of attention. This approach would result in finding new drugs which are more effective and have fewer side effects than the conventional medicines. The present study was designed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of the methanolic extract of Marrubiumvulgare, a popular traditional medicinal herb, on isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction (MI) in rat model. Male Wistar rats were assigned to 6 groups of control, sham, isoproterenol, and treatment with 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg/12h of the extract given orally concurrent with MI induction. A subcutaneous injection of isoproterenol (100 mg/kg/day) for two consecutive days was used to induce MI. Then, histopathological changes and inflammatory markers were evaluated. Isoproterenol injection increased inflammatory response, as shown by a significant increase in peripheral neutrophil count, myocardial myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and serum levels of creatinine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and TNF-α (p<0.001). In the groups treated with 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg of M.vulgare extract serum CK-MB was subsided by 55.4%, 52.2% and 69%, respectively. Also treatment with the extract (40 mg/kg) significantly reduced (p<0.001) MPO activity in MI group. The levels of TNF-α was also considerably declined in the serums of MI group (p<0.001). In addition, peripheral neutrophil count, was significantly lowered by all doses of the extract (p<0.001). Interstitial fibrosis significantly was attenuated in treated groups compared with control MI group. The results of study demonstrate that the M. vulgare extract has strong protective effects against isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction and it seems possible that this protection is due to its anti-inflammatory effects.

Metformin is an oral anti-diabetic drug in the biguanide class. The goal of this study was to develop gastric-retentive MH discs in order to prolong the retention of drug in gastric mucosa. Two groups of metformin hydrochloride (MH) mucoadhesive gastroretentive discs were prepared: (a) bilayered discs prepared by direct compression of powders containing polymers as Carbopol 934P (CP، mucoadhesive polymer) and ethylcellulose (EC، rotardant polymer)، (b) multiple unit system (microparticle) discs prepared by the emulsification، solvent evaporation، and compression technique from microparticles using polymers CP and EC. Gastricmucoadhesive compacts were evaluated by investigating their release pattern، swelling capacity، mucoadhesion property، surface pH، and in vitro gastro-retentive time. Discs formulation was subjected to disintegration and dissolution tests by placing in 0. 1 M hydrochloric acid for 8 h. The production yield showed F2 microparticles of 98. 80%، mean particle size of 933. 25 μm and loading efficiency of 98. 44%. The results showed that prepared microparticle discs had slower release than bilayered discs (p>0. 05). The bilayered discs exhibited very good percentage of mucoadhesion. The results also showed a significant higher retention of mucoadhesive bilayered discs in upper gastrointestinal tract (F´1، 1:2 ratio of CP: EC). Histopathological studies revealed no gastric mucosal damage. Mucoadhesive multiple unit system/bilayered discs interact with mucus of gastrointestinal tract and are considered to be localized or trapped at the adhesive site by retaining a dosage form at the site of action as well as improving in the intimacy of contact with underlying absorptive membrane to achieve a better therapeutic performance of anti-diabetic drug.

Alendronate sodium enhances bone formation and increases osteoblast proliferation and maturation and leads to the inhibition of osteoblast apoptosis. Therefore, a rapid and simple spectrofluorometric method has been developed and validated for the quantitative determination of it. The procedure is based on the reaction of primary amino group of alendronate with o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) in sodium hydroxide solution. The calibration graph was linear over the concentration range of 0.0-2.4 μM and limit of detection and limit of quantification of the method was 8.89 and 29 nanomolar, respectively. The enthalpy and entropy of the reaction between alendronate sodium and OPA showed that the reaction is endothermic and entropy favored (ΔH = 154.08 kJ/mol; ΔS = 567.36 J/mol K) which indicates that OPA interaction with alendronate is increased at elevated temperature. This simple method can be used as a practical technique for the analysis of alendronate in various samples.

In many pathological conditions, pain, inflammation and fever are interdependent to each other. Due to the use of synthetic drugs, many unwanted effects usually appear. Various studies have been conducted on Caesalpinia decapetala (C. decapetala) to evaluate its effects in the treatment of various diseases but no sufficient scientific literature is available online to prove its analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities. The analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities of 70% aqueous methanolic and n-hexane extracts of C. decapetala was evaluated using Swiss albino mice (20-30 g). The results showed that aqueous methanolic extract of C. decapetala at the dose of 100 mg/kg exhibited significant (p< 0.05) activities in various pain models including acetic acidinduced writhing (18.4 ± 0.53), formalin-induced licking (275 ± 4.18) and hot plate method (2.3 ± 0.0328); whereas, n-hexane extract showed its effects in acetic acid-induced writhing 20 ± 0.31), formalin-induced licking (293 ± 1.20) and hot plate method (2.224 ± 0.029)compared to the effects observed in control group animals. Similarly, the aqueous methanolic extract of C. decapetala after 2 h of treatment exhibited more significant anti-inflammatory (0.66 ± 0.06) and anti-pyretic (38.81 ± 0.05) activities compared to the control group animals. From the findings of our present study, we concluded that the aqueous methanolic extract of C. decapetala has stronger analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic effects than its n-hexane extract. Further studies are required to investigate the active constituents of C. decapetala that exhibit analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities.

Lactobacillus is believed to be beneficial in human health, thus the search for isolation and identification of friendly human bacteria from traditional fermented foods is important in medicine. One of the dairy products, traditional cheese as a highly-consumed dairy product could be a valuable source of these friendly edible germs. In this research, home-made cheese from Lankaran, Jalil Abad and Salian regions in Azerbaijan was characterized for the presence of Lactobacilli with probiotic potential. The bacterial suspension was enriched and screened for acid and bile resistances. Then, the isolates were subjected to antibiotic resistance and antibacterial effects against convenient pathogenic bacteria. The isolates were identified by 16s rDNA sequencing. The results clearly revealed two probiotics with higher homology to Lactobacillus planetarum and Lactobacillus fermentum. No antibiotic resistance was detected in any of the potentially probiotic lactobacilli isolates in these regions, where people continue to follow a life-style that is largely traditional, with traditional medications.