Formulation and Characterization of Curcumin Niosomes: Antioxidant and Cytotoxicity Studies.

Curcumin's applications in the treatment of conditions including osteoarthritis, dementia, malignancies of the pancreas, and malignancies of the intestines have drawn increasing attention. It has several wonderful qualities, including being an anti-inflammatory agent, an anti-mutagenic agent, and an antioxidant, and has substantially reduced inherent cytotoxicity outcomes. Although curcumin possesses multiple known curative properties, due to its limited bioavailability, it is necessary to develop efficient strategies to overcome these hurdles. To establish an effective administration method, various niosomal formulations were optimized using the Box-Behnken design and assessed in the current investigation. To examine the curcumin niosomes, zeta sizer, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, SEM, antioxidant potential, cytotoxicity, and release studies were performed. The optimized curcumin niosomes exhibited an average particle size of 169.4 nm, a low PDI of 0.189, and high entrapment efficiency of 85.4%. The release profile showed 79.39% curcumin after 24 h and had significantly higher antioxidant potential as compared with that of free curcumin. The cytotoxicity results of curcumin niosomes presented increased mortality in human ovarian cancer A2780.

A novel pH-responsive hydrogel system based on Prunus armeniaca gum and acrylic acid: Preparation and evaluation as a potential candidate for controlled drug delivery.

pH-responsive hydrogels have become effective and attractive materials for the controlled release of drugs at pre-determined destinations. In the present study, a novel hydrogel system based on Prunus armeniaca gum (PAG) and acrylic acid (AA) was prepared by a free radical mechanism using N, N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as cross-linker and potassium persulfate (KPS) as initiator. A series of hydrogels varying PAG, AA, and MBA concentration was developed to determine the impact of these components. Formulated hydrogels were characterized for pH-responsive swelling, drug release, gel content, and porosity. Structural analysis was performed by FTIR, XRD, and SEM analysis. TGA study was applied to assess thermal stability. Oral acute toxicity and in vivo drug release were performed in rabbits. Hydrogels exhibited pH-dependent swelling and drug release. Swelling, drug loading and release, and porosity increased by increasing PAG and AA concentration while decreased by increasing MBA. The gel content of formulations was increased by increasing all three components. FTIR studies confirmed the development of copolymeric networks and the loading of drug. XRD studies revealed that hydrogels were amorphous, and the crystalline drug was changed into an amorphous form during loading. TGA results indicated that hydrogels were stable up to 600 °C. Acute oral toxicity results confirm that hydrogels were nontoxic up to a dose of 2 g/kg body weight in rabbits. The pharmacokinetic evaluation revealed that hydrogels prolonged the availability of the drug and the peak plasma concentration of the drug was obtained in 6 h as compared to the oral solution of the drug. Tramadol hydrochloride (THC) was used as a model drug. Hence, pH-responsive swelling and release, nontoxic nature and improved pharmacokinetics support that PAG-based hydrogels may be considered as potential controlled-release polymeric carriers.

pH Responsive Abelmoschus esculentus Mucilage and Administration of Methotrexate: In-Vitro Antitumor and In-Vivo Toxicity Evaluation.

The rapid progression in biomaterial nanotechnology apprehends the potential of non-toxic and potent polysaccharide delivery modules to overcome oral chemotherapeutic challenges. The present study is aimed to design, fabricate and characterize polysaccharide nanoparticles for methotrexate (MTX) delivery. The nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by Abelmoschus esculentus mucilage (AEM) and chitosan (CS) by the modified coacervation method, followed by ultra-sonification. The NPs showed much better pharmaceutical properties with a spherical shape and smooth surface of 213.4-254.2 nm with PDI ranging between 0.279-0.485 size with entrapment efficiency varying from 42.08 ± 1.2 to 72.23 ± 2.0. The results revealed NPs to possess positive zeta potential and a low polydispersity index (PDI). The in-vitro drug release showed a sustained release of the drug up to 32 h with pH-dependence. Blank AEM -CS NPs showed no in-vivo toxicity for a time duration of 14 days, accompanied by high cytotoxic effects of optimized MTX loaded NPs against MCF-7 and MD-MBA231 cells by MTT assay. In conclusion, the findings advocated the therapeutic potential of AEM/CS NPs as an efficacious tool, offering a new perspective for pH-responsive routing of anticancer drugs with tumor cells as a target.