Search

The study planned to estimate biological parameters linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, detecting the influence of MTX and biotherapy treatments on these parameters and synthesizing methotrexate bovine serum albumin nanoparticles linked to folate (FA-MTX-BSA NPs) to reduce the overwhelming expression of inflammatory cytokines. Inflammatory parameters showed significant increases in newly diagnosed and MTX-receiving groups while no changes were observed in the biotherapy-maintained group. MTX-loaded BSA nanoparticles were fabricated by the desolvation method and further linked to activated folic acid to obtain FA-MTX-BSA NPs. FA-MTX-BSA NPs were successfully characterized within the nanoscale range using different screening techniques. FA-MTX-BSA NPs showed an in vitro release in a sustained manner. The potential of MTX, MTX-BSA NPs, and FA-MTX-BSA NPs in inducing cytokine level reduction was detected. Significant decreases in interleukin- 1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels were obtained in cultures treated with FA-MTX-BSA NPs compared to the untreated culture in a dose-dependent pattern. Furthermore, FA-MTX-BSA NPs comparing with MTX and MTX-BSA NPs exhibited a significant advanced effect in decreasing cytokines levels. Accordingly, the conjunction of BSA NPs and MTX linked to folate potentially reduced cytokines manifestation in RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) are photo-active metallic nanoparticles becoming promising agents in modern biomedical applications. Herein, a novel process for the synthesis of TiO2 NPs with high stability was developed by a sol–gel process and to investigate their cytotoxicity and antibacterial activity. Numerous experiments have been performed to confirm the morphologies, compositions, and physicochemical properties of prepared TiO2 NPs, such as field emission scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, Zeta potential, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. MTT assay was applied to assess the cytotoxicity of the prepared nanoparticles. The results indicate that the synthesized nanoparticles' diameter is about 68 nm and contains the anatase phase, in the range of 2θ from 25 to 80 °C. The hydrodynamic radius of nanoparticles is about 140.4 nm, and the zeta potential of nanoparticles is about −44.6 mV. The MTT results have not shown any toxicity; the antibacterial inhibitory effect of TiO2 NPs at 200 mg/mL concentrations exhibited superior antibacterial activity at 15.9 ± 0.1, 14.0 ± 0.1 against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively. In conclusion, colloidal solutions with high stability were successfully synthesized, contributing to decreased dimensions and increased antibacterial properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]