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Zwitterion amino acid l-cysteine functionalized lanthanum oxide nanoparticles (l-Cyst-La2O3NPs) have been synthesized for the first time with lanthanum acetate as the precursor, NH4OH as the base, and l-cysteine as the in situfunctionalized mediator. The typical size of l-Cyst-La2O3NPs was obtained in the range of 15–20 nm from the TEM technique. A cytotoxicity test of l-Cyst-La2O3NPs was performed in Raw 264.7 cell lines, which were shown to be highly biocompatible. The point zero charge pH (pHPZC) of bare and l-Cyst functionalized La2O3NPs was obtained at pH 6 and 2. The maximum uptake capacities of l-Cyst-La2O3NPs at temperatures 25–45 °C were obtained as 137–282 mg/g for Pb2+and 186–256 mg/g for Cr6+. All of these values are much higher than those reported in the literature with other nanomaterials. The presence of −SH, −NH2, and −COOH functional groups in zwitterion l-cysteine provides multiple binding sites leading to the high adsorption of Pb2+and Cr6+. Five-cycle desorption studies were successfully performed to regenerate the spent l-Cyst-La2O3NPs.

Recombinant HCGβ-LTB expressed in the yeast, holds a significant promise as a contraceptive vaccine for women. It induces bio-effective anti-hCG antibodies, which can potentially prevent pregnancy by neutralizing the hCG hormone crucial for establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. The vaccine produced in shake-flask culture and administered along with adjuvant Mycobacterium indicuspranii (MIP) induces high anti-hCG titres in mice of different genetic strains. This study aimed to produce the vaccine in high cell density culture in a bioreactor and assess its consistency and efficacy compared to shake-flask production. A fed-batch culture increased the cell biomass nearly 6.5 folds higher than the shake-flask culture. Increase in specific-activity by a factor of 1.7 resulted in almost 11-fold higher volumetric activity. Characterization of the purified protein and immunogenicity studies conducted in mice demonstrated that it was comparable to protein made in shake-flask. This study shows that hCGβ-LTB vaccine can be produced cost-effectively with consistent characteristics in high cell density cultures of Pichia pastorison a large-scale for eventual pre-clinical/clinical studies.

Topotecan being highly water-soluble drug with a property of getting converted from biologically active lactone form to biologically inactive carboxylate form, thus making it a candidate with very less bioavailability; so, our approach was to develop a stable Topotecan lactone (active) form nanoparticles (TNPs). TNPs were developed and optimized successfully with size of 130.0 ± 3.9 nm, 0.102 ± 0.009 PDI and zeta potential of −18.0 ± 2.1 mV. The percent entrapment efficiency of active lactone form of Topotecan (TOP) in optimized formulation of TNPs was 65.72 ± 1.9%, that was enhanced by approximately 15% from 65.72 ± 1.9% to 73.27 ± 2.1% by using Zn2+ions as a complexing agent between PLGA polymer and Topotecan drug. Lyophilized TNPs under DSC study showed the entrapment of TOP in amorphous or solution form, which was further confirmed by XRD studies. In vitrorelease study depicts that the drug TOP in TNPs showed initial burst release followed by sustained release for up to 72 h in PBS (pH 7.4). Ex-vivogut permeation study revealed that TNPs enhanced the permeation of TOP through the gut. Further, in vivopharmacokinetic data showed that the oral bioavailability of TOP was increased by four folds from TNPs. TNPs in comparison to TOP drug also showed a significant reduction in IC50in cell line studies on MCF-7/Adr resistant cells.