Use of Silica Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery in Cardiovascular Disease.

PURPOSE: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. The current CVD therapeutic drugs require long-term treatment with high doses, which increases the risk of adverse effects while offering only marginal treatment efficacy. Silica nanoparticles (SNPs) have been proven to be an efficient drug delivery vehicle for numerous diseases, including CVD. This article reviews recent progress and advancement in targeted delivery for drugs and diagnostic and theranostic agents using silica nanoparticles to achieve therapeutic efficacy and improved detection of CVD in clinical and preclinical settings. METHODS: A search of PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases from 1990 to 2023 was conducted. Current clinical trials on silica nanoparticles were identified through ClinicalTrials.gov. Search terms include silica nanoparticles, cardiovascular diseases, drug delivery, and therapy. FINDINGS: Silica nanoparticles exhibit biocompatibility in biological systems, and their shape, size, surface area, and surface functionalization can be customized for the safe transport and protection of drugs in blood circulation. These properties also enable effective drug uptake in specific tissues and controlled drug release after systemic, localized, or oral delivery. A range of silica nanoparticles have been used as nanocarrier for drug delivery to treat conditions such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, ischemia, thrombosis, and myocardial infarction. IMPLICATIONS: The use of silica nanoparticles for drug delivery and their ongoing development has emerged as a promising strategy to improve the effectiveness of drugs, imaging agents, and theranostics with the potential to revolutionize the treatment of CVD.

Carbohydrate coated fluorescent mesoporous silica particles for bacterial imaging.

This work investigated the synthesis of carbohydrate functionalized methylene blue doped amine grafted mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MB AMSN) and their application in bioimaging. A single-pot synthesis methodology was developed via a modified co-condensation sol-gel technique for simultaneous incorporation of the dye molecule in the nanoparticles, with amine grafting for subsequent functionalization. The obtained nanoparticles (∼ 450 nm) are mesoporous and have a high surface area (538 m2/g), pore-volume (0.3 cm3/g), showed excellent UV-vis absorbance, and dye encapsulation efficiency (> 75 %). These fluorescent nanoparticles were further functionalized with carbohydrate molecules before application as contrast agents in bacterial cells. In the present study, gram-positive (E. coli) and gram-negative (B. subtilis) bacteria were used as model organisms. Confocal laser microscopy results showed that the nanoparticles are highly fluorescent, and SEM of glucose conjugated MB doped nanoparticles indicated close interaction with E. coli with no toxicity observed towards either bacterial cells. The results demonstrate that by suitable surface functionalization, the methylene blue doped silica nanoparticles can be used as bioimaging agents.