Evaluation of the performance of common kits for the measurement of creatinine in serum and urine: are the results of these methods suitable for clinical use?

Background: Measuring serum and urine creatinine level is currently the most common method for assessing renal function. For this purpose, Jaffe's method is most commonly used. The inconsistency in the results obtained from one single sample may be due to poor quality of the measurement method, inappropriate calibration, or improper use of the measurement method by the laboratory

Materials and methods: To evaluate the performance of creatinine measurement methods, five commonly used kits in Iran, i.e. Pars Azmon, Pishtaz Teb, Audit, Man and Bionik, were evaluated for uncertainty, detection capabilities, linearity and comparison of results. The results were statistically analyzed by using the coefficient of variation, T-test and linear regression and clinically evaluated based on the allowable total error

Results: The imprecision and detection capabilities of the kits were acceptable, but linearity results were not acceptable according to measurement range provided by the manufacturers, exept for Audit and Bionik kits. In addition, statistically in all cases and clinically in most cases, there was a significant difference between the results of each kit with the total mean results as the target level

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, which have been performed in Iran for the first time, it is necessary to replace the Jaffe's method creatinine measurements with the enzymatic methods. In addition, the homogenization and standardization of these methods in comparison to a reference method is necessary

Doxorubicin loaded DNA aptamer linked myristilated chitosan nanogel for targeted drug delivery to prostate cancer

Recently, specific attention has been paid to aptamers, short DNA or RNA, as a tool for cancer diagnosis and therapy. In the present study MCS nanogels were prepared by Myristate: Chitosan at 1:9 ratio and were characterized by several techniques. A selected ssDNA aptamer [Apt] capable of detecting LNCaP cells was linked to Myristilated Chitosan nanogels [Apt-MCS] by glutaraldehyde and loaded with Doxorubicin [DOX] to be used in targeted drug delivery against the Prostate cancer cells. LNCaP and PC-3 cells were treated with Apt-MCS-DOX complex and the binding efficiency was estimated by flow cytometry. The binding affinity of the selected aptamers was above 70% compared to the initial library. The loading capacity of the nanogel was as high as 97% and up to 40% of DOX were released from MCS within 15 days. Cytotoxicity of nanodrug on LNCaP cells was determined by MTT assay. Apt-MCS-DOX was specifically binded to LNCaP cells whereas it didn't show any specificity to PC-3 cells as a negative control. Both MCS-DOX and Apt-MCS-DOX showed a lethal effect on LNCaP cells. Our results can lead to an aptamer based simple and applicable technique for early diagnosis and treatment of cancerous cells

[Designing and comparison of two types of chitosan nanogels for doxorubicine delivery]

Objective: Drug delivery systems related to different cancer therapies is now expanding. Chitosan [CS] is currently receiving enormous interest for medical and pharmaceutical applications due to its biocompatibility in animal tissues. In this study, two nanogels were prepared from CS. Some of the critical factors such as controlling the release, adsorption and specially targeting drug delivery are considered while preparing the nanogels

Methods: Phosphorylated CS [PCS] and Myristilated CS [MCS] nanogels were prepared by reacting CS with tripolyphosphate [TPP] and Myristate as cross-linking agents respectively and then were loaded with Doxorubicin [DOX]. The nanogels were characterized by different techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and Fourier-transform infrared. The cytotoxicity of free DOX, MCS nanogels and DOX loaded MCS was evaluated by the MTT assay

Results: The result of DOX loading and releasing of the nanogels showed high loading capacity and drug loading efficiency of about 97%. Results indicated slow release of about 16-28% of DOX from PCS within 5 days and 18-40% from MCS within 15 days. DOX and MCS-DOX showed the same toxic effect on the prostate cancer cells [LNCaP]

Conclusion: Both PCS and MCS nanogels were qualified on the basis of size, loading and releasing capacity