Search results for " nanocarriers"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Expanding the Therapeutic Spectrum of Artemisinin: Activity Against Infectious Diseases Beyond Malaria and Novel Pharmaceutical Developments
2016
The interest of Western medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a source of drug leads/new drugs to treat diseases without available efficient therapies has been dramatically augmented in the last decades by the extensive work and the outstanding findings achieved within this kind of medicine. The practice of TCM over thousands of years has equipped scientists with substantial experience with hundreds of plants that led to the discovery of artemisinin (qinghaosu), which is extracted from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua L. (qinghao). The unexpected success of artemisinin in combating malaria has drawn strong attention from the scientific community towards TCM. Artemisinin was d…
Radiation-engineered functionalized nanogels as platform for biomedical nanocarriers and bio-hybrid, hierarchically assembled nanostructures
2011
Radiation technologies can be considered as choice methodologies for the creation of new functional materials at the nanoscale, the challenge being now the integration of these and other novel nanomaterials into new materials and products. The possibility of generating nanoscalar PVP-based hydrogels particles, with reactive functional groups for subsequent bioconjugation, using industrial type accelerators has been demonstrated. These functional nanoparticles are under evaluation as nanocarriers for targeted release of drugs, but can also be considered as useful building blocks for the assembly of nanostructured materials with controlled architecture. In particular, molecular recognition st…
Controlling the Stealth Effect of Nanocarriers through Understanding the Protein Corona
2016
The past decade has seen a significant increase in interest in the use of polymeric nanocarriers in medical applications. In particular, when used as drug vectors in targeted delivery, nanocarriers could overcome many obstacles for drug therapy. Nevertheless, their application is still impeded by the complex composition of the blood proteins covering the particle surface, termed the protein corona. The protein corona complicates any prediction of cell interactions, biodistribution, and toxicity. In particular, the unspecific uptake of nanocarriers is a major obstacle in clinical studies. This Minireview provides an overview of what we currently know about the characteristics of the protein …
Versatile preparation of silica nanocapsules for biomedical applications
2020
Core–shell nanocapsules are receiving increasing interest for drug delivery applications. Silica nanocapsules have been the focus of intensive studies due to their biocompatibility, versatile silica chemistry, and tunable porosity. However, a versatile one-step preparation of silica nanocapsules with well-defined core–shell structure, tunable size, flexible interior loading, and tailored shell composition, permeability, and surface functionalization for site-specific drug release and therapeutic tracking remains a challenge. Herein, an interfacially confined sol–gel process in miniemulsion for the one-step versatile preparation of functional silica nanocapsules is developed. Uniform nanocap…
Ionizing radiation-engineered nanogels as insulin nanocarriers for the development of a new strategy for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease
2016
A growing body of evidence shows the protective role of insulin in Alzheimer's disease (AD). A nanogel system (NG) to deliver insulin to the brain, as a tool for the development of a new therapy for Alzheimer's Disease (AD), is designed and synthetized. A carboxyl-functionalized poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) nanogel system produced by ionizing radiation is chosen as substrate for the covalent attachment of insulin or fluorescent molecules relevant for its characterization. Biocompatibility and hemocompatibility of the naked carrier is demonstrated. The insulin conjugated to the NG (NG-In) is protected by protease degradation and able to bind to insulin receptor (IR), as demonstrated by immunofl…
Polymeric nanoparticles as a new generation of anti-oxidant carriers
2016
In recent years, polymeric nanoparticles have been the object of growing scientific interest, especially as drug carriers. In this work, PEO-PPO-PEO (F127, commercial Pluronic F127®) nanoparticles has been used as carriers for naturally occurring anti-oxidant, such as quercetin (Q).
Mixed micelles composed of Peptides and Gadolinium complexes as tumor-specific contrast agents in MRI: a SANS study
2004
A detailed structural investigation on mixed micelle aggregates as target-specific contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging technique has been carried out by way of small angle neutron scattering measurements. These mixed micelles are formed by two new amphiphilic molecules formed by a bioactive peptide and a claw moiety. The first molecule, C18H37CONH(AdOO)(x)-G-CCK8 (C18LxCCK8, x = 2, 5), contains an 18-carbon-atom alkylic chain bound to the C-terminal of the cholecystokinin octapeptide amide (CCK 26-33 or CCK8) and is able to bind to the overexpressed CCK receptor of some tumor cells. The second molecule, C(18)H(37)CONHLys(DTPAGlu)CONH25- (C18DTPAGlu) or its gadolinium complex [C(1…
Surface Modification of Porous Polyethylene Implants with an Albumin-Based Nanocarrier-Release System
2021
Background: Porous polyethylene (PPE) implants are used for the reconstruction of tissue defects but have a risk of rejection in case of insufficient ingrowth into the host tissue. Various growth factors can promote implant ingrowth, yet a long-term gradient is a prerequisite for the mediation of these effects. As modification of the implant surface with nanocarriers may facilitate a long-term gradient by sustained factor release, implants modified with crosslinked albumin nanocarriers were evaluated in vivo. Methods: Nanocarriers from murine serum albumin (MSA) were prepared by an inverse miniemulsion technique encapsulating either a low- or high-molar mass fluorescent cargo. PPE implants …
On the origin of functionalization in one-pot radiation synthesis of nanogels from aqueous polymer solutions
2016
Radiation-engineered poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) nanogels are very interesting biocompatible nanocarriers for i.v. administration of therapeutics and contrast agents for bioimaging. The manufacturing process is fast and effective, it grants excellent control of particle size and simultaneous sterilization of the formed nanogels. Interestingly, primary amino groups and carboxyl groups, useful for (bio)conjugation, are also formed in a dose-dependent fashion. In this paper, by means of both numerical simulations and experiments, the origin of nanogel size control and functionalization is investigated. This understanding offers a new dimension for the design and production of radiation-sculpture…
Hyaluronan Graft Copolymers Bearing Fatty-Acid Residues as Self-Assembling Nanoparticles for Olanzapine Delivery
2019
In order to evaluate the potential of a technology platform based on hyaluronan copolymers grafted with propargylated ferulate fluorophores (HA-FA-Pg) in the development of drug delivery systems, the propargyl groups of HA-FA-Pg derivatives were employed with oleic acid (OA) or stearic acid (SA) residues across a biocompatible hexa(ethylene glycol) (HEG) spacer. The designed materials (i.e., HA-FA-HEG-OA or HA-FA-HEG-SA) showed clear-cut aggregation features in an aqueous environment, as confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), generating nanoaggregate systems. In fact, HA-FA-HEG-OA and HA-FA-HEG-SA derivatives showed the property to create sel…