Liposomal Microencapsulation of Rodent-repelling Agents onto Jute Burlaps: Assessment of Cytotoxicity and Rat Behavioral Test.

In Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, about 7 to 10 percent of stored grains are damaged because of poor conditions of storage. Rodent invasion is considered as one of the main reasons that caused wheat grain damage. With respect of food safety, this work aims to treat the grain burlaps (containers) to rodent repellent. The rodent repellent agents was extracted from natural local resources. For the rodent repellent effectiveness, wheat burlaps are treated with rodent repelling agents using eco-friendly components. There are prepared using camphor oil, mint oil, and capsaicinoids (extracted from hot red pepper) as local resources to develop low cost and high-performance final product. The plan of work relies on two main axes; first, the experimental part in which burlap was treated for rodent repellent; second, testing and characterizing the treated samples for cytotoxicity and animal behavior test. The treatment was taking place by conventional pad-dry-cure technique.

Controlled Release of Drugs from Cellulosic Wound Bandage Using Silica Microsphere as Drug Encapsulator Module.

Controlled-drug-releasing materials show promising applications in medicinal bandages. In addition, one could incorporate drugs to make such bandages more versatile. During this context, silica microparticles were synthesized, during presence of different drugs namely sodium diclofenac, linoleic acid and recienoleic acid. The morphological characterization shows formation of monodispersed, silica microparticles. FT-IR spectroscopy provided the interaction of the drug molecule at its hydroxide (OH) site with oxygen ions on the silica surface. UV–vis spectroscopy showed persistence of the different drugs signature, especially its R group, confirming its antimicrobial activity even after conjugation. Using zone-of-inhibition studies, the antimicrobial studies were done on two microorganisms, namely, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. However, the encapsulator module showed controlled release of all drugs for the duration of 48 h. This work demonstrated an effective protocol to prepare antimicrobial patches for controlled drug delivery.

Biomaterials Based on Essential Fatty Acids and Carbohydrates for Chronic Wounds.

Chronic wounds such as decubitus ulcer remain challenging due to their integrated and overlapping phases. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) enzymes, whose main function is to degrade all kinds of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, aid cellular migration and extracellular remodeling. MMPs, in the wound bed, allow the lysis of the dead tissues, by which the macrophages task becomes easier to digest the dead cells. MMPs activities should be monitored and inhibited as the healing process proceeds. If MMPs are not inhibited in time, they will break down tissue to attack the ECM itself creating chronic wounds. In the current work, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and ricinoleic acid (RA) are extracted from commercial oils as MMPs inhibitors. A pharmaceutical carrier is formulated containing chitosan fine particles, impregnated silver nanoparticles into microcrystalline cellulose, CLA and RA. Carrier and the active ingredients were prepared and characterized by spectral and morphological analysis. The final formulation was examined for antimicrobial, cytotoxicity, and in-vivo wound healing activity. Results showed a strong inhibitory activity against the tested pathogenic microorganisms for the silver contacting samples. The rates of wound closures during wound healing in diabetic male-rats of formulas containing ricinoleic acid was faster than that containing conjugated linoleic acid.