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Yousefpour P, Atyabi F, Vasheghani-Farahani E, Movahedi M, Dinarvand R. Int J Nanomedicine. 2011;6:1977—1990. The authors have advised Figure 9D on page 1986 is incorrect. Due to an error at the time of figure assembly Figure 9B and D were duplicated. The correct Figure 9 is shown below. Figure 9 Fluorescence microscopy of cellular uptake of (A) trastuzumab-decorated chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by SKOV-3 cell line, (B) trastuzumab-decorated chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by MCF-7 cell line, (C) chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by SKOV-3 cell line, and (D) chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by MCF-7 cell line. (E) SKOV-3 cells and (F) MCF-7 cells in cell culture medium served as negative controls. The authors previously requested a corrigendum to correct this error soon after publication but it was not actioned due to communication issues between the journal and authors. The authors have now contacted the journal again several years later to request the same corrigendum in relation to the same error. The authors apologize for the error and advise it does not affect the results of the paper.

Saeid Maghsoudi,1 Bahareh Taghavi Shahraki,1 Navid Rabiee,2 Yousef Fatahi,3– 5 Rassoul Dinarvand,3,4 Maryam Tavakolizadeh,6 Sepideh Ahmadi,7,8 Mohammad Rabiee,9 Mojtaba Bagherzadeh,2 Ali Pourjavadi,6 Hassan Farhadnejad,10 Mohammadreza Tahriri,11 Thomas J Webster,12 Lobat Tayebi11 1Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz, Iran; 2Department of Chemistry, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4Nanotechnology Research Centre, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 5Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran; 6Polymer Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11365-9516, Iran; 7Student Research Committee, Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 8Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 9Biomaterial Group, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran; 10Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 11School of Dentistry, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA; 12Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USACorrespondence: Thomas J Webster; Mohammadreza Tahriri Tel +1 617 373 6585Email th.webster@neu.edu; mohammadreza.tahriri@marquette.eduAbstract: With continual rapid developments in the biomedical field and understanding of the important mechanisms and pharmacokinetics of biological molecules, controlled drug delivery systems (CDDSs) have been at the forefront over conventional drug delivery systems. Over the past several years, scientists have placed boundless energy and time into exploiting a wide variety of excipients, particularly diverse polymers, both natural and synthetic. More recently, the development of nano polymer blends has achieved noteworthy attention due to their amazing properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and more importantly, their pivotal role in controlled and sustained drug release in vitro and in vivo. These compounds come with a number of effective benefits for improving problems of targeted or controlled drug and gene delivery systems; thus, they have been extensively used in medical and pharmaceutical applications. Additionally, they are quite attractive for wound dressings, textiles, tissue engineering, and biomedical prostheses. In this sense, some important and workable natural polymers (namely, chitosan (CS), starch and cellulose) and some applicable synthetic ones (such as poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly-glycolic acid (PGA)) have played an indispensable role over the last two decades for their therapeutic effects owing to their appealing and renewable biological properties. According to our data, this is the first review article highlighting CDDSs composed of diverse natural and synthetic nano biopolymers, blended for biological purposes, mostly over the past five years; other reviews have just briefly mentioned the use of such blended polymers. We, additionally, try to make comparisons between various nano blending systems in terms of improved sustained and controlled drug release behavior.Keywords: polymer blends, drug delivery, wound dressing, PLGA, chitosan, starch

Talaie F, Azizi E, Dinarvand R, Atyabi F. Int J Nanomedicine. 2011;6:1963‒1975. The Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of images in Figures 3 and 7. Specifically, Figure 3A, chitosan nanoparticles, appears to have been duplicated with a similar image for Figure 3C, DOX-NAC-C nanoparticles. Figure 7B 1, FBS-free RPMI, appears to have been duplicated with a similar image for Figure 7B 7, NAP-C. Figure 7B 4, NAC-C, appears to have been duplicated with a similar image for Figure 7B 10, Chitosan. The authors responded to our queries but were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the duplicated images and the Editor requested for the article to be retracted. The authors were notified of this decision. Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

Maryam Dibaei,1 Mohammad-Reza Rouini,1 Behjat Sheikholeslami,1 Mahdi Gholami,2,3 Rassoul Dinarvand4,51Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetic Division, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Experimental Medicine Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4Nanotechnology Research Centre, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 5Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranBackground: Curcumin, a bioactive component with multiple characteristics, has been shown to have many therapeutic effects. However, there are several limitations regarding the use of curcumin such as instability, low solubility, poor bioavailability, and rapid elimination. Different approaches have been used to solve these problems.Materials and methods: In this study, surface-modified nanosuspension (NS) is investigated as a novel brain delivery system. Two different methods were used for the preparation of nanosuspensions with two different stabilizers. The surface of the nanosuspensions was coated with D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1,000 succinate (TPGS) and Tween 80 using physical adsorption. Curcumin NSs were prepared using two different top-down techniques by high-pressure homogenizer and probe sonicator. A validated sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatography method using fluorescence detection was used for the determination and quantification of curcumin. Pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of curcumin NSs and solutions after intravenous administration in rats were studied.Results: Higher levels of curcumin in the brain were detected when Tween 80-coated NS was used compared with the curcumin solution and TPGS coated NS (TPGS-NS) (P-value

Akram Assali,1 Omid Akhavan,2 Fatemeh Mottaghitalab,1 Mohsen Adeli,3 Rassoul Dinarvand,1 Shayan Razzazan,4 Ehsan Arefian,5 Masoud Soleimani,6 Fatemeh Atyabi1 1Nanotechnology Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Department of Physics, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie University Berlin, Berlin, Germany; 4Department of Electrical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran; 5Molecular Virology Lab, Department of Microbiology, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; 6Hematology Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Introduction: MicroRNA-101 (miR-101) is an intense cancer suppressor with special algorithm to target a wide range of pathways and genes which indicates the ability to regulate apoptosis, cellular stress, metastasis, autophagy, and tumor growth. Silencing of some genes such as Stathmin1 with miR-101 can be interpreted as apoptotic accelerator and autophagy suppressor. It is hypothesized that hybrid microRNA (miRNA) delivery structures based on cationized graphene oxide (GO) could take superiority of targeting and photothermal therapy to suppress the cancer cells.Materials and methods: In this study, GO nanoplatforms were covalently decorated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and poly-L-arginine (P-L-Arg) that reduced the surface of GO and increased the near infrared absorption ~7.5-fold higher than nonreduced GO.Results: The prepared nanoplatform [GO-PEG-(P-L-Arg)] showed higher miRNA payload and greater internalization and facilitated endosomal scape into the cytoplasm in comparison with GO-PEG. Furthermore, applying P-L-Arg, as a targeting agent, greatly improved the selective transfection of nanoplatform in cancer cells (MCF7, MDA-MB-231) in comparison with immortalized breast cells and fibroblast primary cells. Treating cancer cells with GO-PEG-(P-L-Arg)/miR-101 and incorporating near infrared laser irradiation induced 68% apoptosis and suppressed Stathmin1 protein.Conclusion: The obtained results indicated that GO-PEG-(P-L-Arg) would be a suitable targeted delivery system of miR-101 transfection that could downregulate autophagy and conduct thermal stress to activate apoptotic cascades when combined with photothermal therapy. Keywords: miR-101, cationized graphene oxide, poly-L-arginine, apoptosis, autophagy, photothermal therapy

Objective: Early covering of the burned area is crucial and important factor for successful treatment. Therefore, finding an appropriate Materials for dressing and accelerating wound healing is important. Our previous results determined that amniotic membrane extract (AME) contain many factors that can promote limbal stem cell proliferation and corneal epithelialization. In the present study we investigated the effect of mixture of AME and hydrogel based on chitosan on partial burns in Rat model. Materials and Methods: To find the effective dose of AM extract on skin cells, skin fibroblasts and melanocytes were cultured in 12 well-plates for 24, 48 and 72 hours in presence of different concentration of AME (0.1- 2 mg/ml). Proliferation rate was measured by manual cell count. In next step, 30 Wistar male rats were anaesthetized and a 5×6 cm partial burn wound was created by 90oC water in 6 second, and then divided in four groups. Group1: control (no dressing), group 2: chitosan hydrogel (CH) sheet, group 3: CH contains 1mg/ml of AME up to 10th day then followed by CH contains 0.1mg/ml, group 4: CH contains 0.1 mg/ml AME. In Day 10th and 15 th, biopsies were taken from wound region for pathological evaluation and Masson's Trichrome (MT) staining. Results: Our results determined that o.1 mg/ml of AME increased fibroblast and melanocyte proliferation significantly (p<0.05), however 2 mg/ml AME Reduced cell proliferation. On the other hand, dressing of wound by hydrogel contains 1mg/ml AME for 10 continues days and then changed it with hydrogel contains 0.1mg/ml significantly decreased the wound area six fold compare control group (p<0.01). Pathological experiments showed that collagen fibers increased, inflammatory cells and scar formation decreased in rats which treated with hydrogel contains 0.1mg/ml and 1 mg/ml AME. Conclusion: According to these results, for the first time we introduce a suitable biological dressing without any side effect that accelerates wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurodegenerative disorders are complex, progressive, and life-threatening. They cause mortality and disability for millions of people worldwide. Appropriate treatment for neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) is still clinically lacking due to the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Developing an effective transport system that can cross the BBB and enhance the therapeutic effect of neuroprotective agents has been a major challenge for NDs. Exosomes are endogenous nano-sized vesicles that naturally carry biomolecular cargoes. Many studies have indicated that exosome content, particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), possess biological activities by targeting several signaling pathways involved in apoptosis, inflammation, autophagy, and oxidative stress. Exosome content can influence cellular function in healthy or pathological ways. Furthermore, since exosomes reflect the features of the parental cells, their cargoes offer opportunities for early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of diseases. Exosomes have unique characteristics that make them ideal for delivering drugs directly to the brain. These characteristics include the ability to pass through the BBB, biocompatibility, stability, and innate targeting properties. This review emphasizes the role of exosomes in alleviating NDs and discusses the associated signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, the unique biological features of exosomes, making them a promising natural transporter for delivering various medications to the brain to combat several NDs, are also discussed., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Recent studies have reported the promising effect of intravitreal propranolol on retinal neovascularization. However, rapid clearance and short half-life of the drug in the vitreous are the main drawbacks of this therapeutic approach. This study investigates the extension of the residence time of propranolol in the vitreous by polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) with the prospect of improving choroidal neovascularization treatment., Methods: The poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) NPs were fabricated by a modified double emulsion solvent evaporation method and the obtained NPs were characterized for their size, poly dispersity index (PDI), and surface image. The in vitro release, cell cytotoxicity, and uptake of NPs were also evaluated. To investigate the effect of the vitreous pharmacokinetic drug loaded NPs versus that of the free propranolol, they were intravitreally injected into the rabbits' eyes and the drug vitreous concentrations in defined intervals were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)., Results: The spherical NPs with about 230 nm size, and almost 10% drug loading were obtained. Based on the 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-Yl)-2, 5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) outcomes, 30 µg/ml of propranolol was considered as the guide dosage in the intravitreal injection. Confocal microscopy images verified the presence of labeled NPs in the posterior segment after five days of receiving the injection. In vivo assay revealed that the vanishing rate of propranolol in rabbits treated with propranolol NPs was reduced at twice the rate as compared to that of the vanishing rate experienced with only the free drug., Conclusion: PLGA NPs can prolong the existence of propranolol in both vitreous and posterior ocular tissues, and thus, may provide an effective approach in treatment of posterior segment neovascularization., (Copyright © 2024 Chaharband et al.)

Remarkable resistance of bacterial biofilms to high doses of antimicrobials and antibiotics is one of their main challenges. Encapsulation of proteolytic enzymes is one of the suggested strategies to tackle this problem. In this regard, the antibacterial and anti-biofilm activity of biocompatible hyaluronic acid- Lysine nanogels containing serratiopeptidase (SRP-loaded HA-Lys nanogel) was assessed against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus strains. SRP-loaded HA-Lys nanogel was prepared using dropping method and optimized by Box-Behnken experimental design. These formulations were studied for physical characterization, release profile, stability, bioactivity, and anti-biofilm effects. The particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), and surface charge were measured by Zetasizer Nano ZS. The average particle size and zeta potential of the optimum sample were 156 nm and -14.1 mV, respectively. SRP release showed an initial burst followed by sustained release and the highest release was around 77%. Enzyme biological activity data revealed the higher efficiency of free SRP compared to SRP-loaded HA-Lys nanogel. The time-kill assay showed that both forms of SRP-loaded HA-Lys nanogel and blank HA-Lys nanogel showed significant antimicrobial activity against examined bacteria in comparison to the free enzyme. The obtained results demonstrated improved anti-biofilm efficacy and down regulation of tested biofilm genes for both SRP-loaded HA-Lys nanogel 100% and blank HA-Lys nanogel 100% compared to SRP 100%., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Therapeutic self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) is a promising approach for disease treatment, as it can be administered in lower doses than messenger RNA (mRNA) to achieve comparable protein production levels. However, saRNA requires an appropriate delivery vehicle to protect it during transit and facilitate its transfection. A widely-adopted approach has been to use polycations to condense these large anionic macromolecules into polyplex nanoparticles, however their high charge density often elicits cytotoxic effects. In this study we postulated that we could improve the potency and tolerability of such delivery vehicles by co-formulating poly(β-amino ester)s saRNA polyplexes with a non-toxic anionic polymer, γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) to neutralize partially this positive charge. Accordingly, we prepared a poly(β-amino ester) from 1,6-hexanedioldiacrylate (HDDA) and 4-aminobutanol (ABOL) and initially evaluated the physicochemical properties of the binary polyplexes ( i.e. formed from polymer and saRNA only). Optimised binary polyplex formulations were then taken forward for preparation of ternary complexes containing pHDDA-ABOL, saRNA and γ-PGA. Our findings demonstrate that γ-PGA integration into polyplexes significantly enhanced transfection efficacy in HEK293T and A431 cells without affecting polyplex size. Notably, γ-PGA incorporation leads to a pronounced reduction in zeta potential, which reduced the toxicity of the ternary complexes in moDC, NIH3T3, and A431 cells. Furthermore, the presence of γ-PGA contributed to colloidal stability, reducing aggregation of the ternary complexes, as evidenced by insignificant changes in polydispersity index (PDI) after freeze-thaw cycles. Overall, these results suggest that incorporating the appropriate ratio of a polyanion such as γ-PGA with polycations in RNA delivery formulations is a promising way to improve the in vitro delivery of saRNA., Competing Interests: RJS is a founder of VaxEquity Ltd and PFM is a co-founder and employee of VaxEquity Ltd. VaxEquity Ltd was not involved in these studies., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Background: To have a better and longer effect, botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is injected several times in a treatment course, which could increase side effects and cost. Some of the most cutting-edge strategies being investigated for proteins to their physiologic targets involve the reformulation of BoNT based on peptide-based delivery systems. For this purpose, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are of particular interest because of their capacity to cross the biological membranes., Objectives: A short and simple CPP sequence was used as a carrier to create nanocomplex particles from BoNT/A, with the purpose of increasing toxin entrapment by target cells, reducing diffusion, and increasing the duration of the effect., Method: CPP-BoNT/A nanocomplexes were formed by polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) method, considering the anionic structure of botulinum toxin and the cationic CPP sequence. The cellular toxicity, and absorption profile of the complex nanoparticles were evaluated, and the digit abduction score (DAS) was used to assess the local muscle weakening efficacy of BoNT/A and CPP-BoNT/A., Results: The provided optimized polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles had a 244 ± 20 nm particle size and 0.28 ± 0.04 PdI. In cellular toxicity, CPP-BoNT/A nanocomplexes as extended-release formulations of BoNT/A showed that nanocomplexes had a more toxic effect than BoNT/A. Furthermore, the comparison of weakening effectiveness on muscle was done among nanoparticles and free toxin on mice based on the digit abduction score (DAS) method, and nanocomplexes had a slower onset effect and a longer duration of action than toxin., Conclusion: Using PEC method allowed us to form nanocomplex from proteins, and peptides without a covalent bond and harsh conditions. The muscle-weakening effect of toxin in CPP-BoNT/A nanocomplexes showed acceptable efficacy and extended-release pattern., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Tehran University of Medical Sciences.)

L-asparaginase (ASNase) enzyme has limited therapeutic use due to its poor pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity. To overcome these obstacles, we immobilized ASNase in biocompatible poly hydroxypropyl methacrylamide (P(HPMA))-based nanogels simply formed through the host-guest inclusion complex of ASNase-conjugated random copolymer of HPMA and polyethylene glycol (PEG) acrylate (P(HPMA-MPEGA)) and α-cyclodextrin dimer (bisCD) using cystamine as a linker. The effects of bisCD and polymer concentrations on particle size, gelation time, and recovery of enzyme activity were investigated. The ASNase-conjugated bisCD nanogels were discrete, homogeneous, and spherical with a mean projected diameter of 148 ± 41 nm. ASNase immobilized in the bisCD nanogels caused cytotoxicity on HL-60 cell line with IC 50 of 3 IU/ml. In-vivo rat study revealed that the immobilized ASNase reduced the enzyme antigenicity and resulted in 8.1 folds longer circulation half-life than the native enzyme. Conclusively, immobilization of ASNase in P(HPMA-MPEGA) and bisCD supramolecular nanogels could enhance the therapeutic value of ASNase in cancer chemotherapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Purpose: This research intended to fabricate the thiolated chitosan-dextran nanoparticles (NPs) containing topotecan (TPH-CMD-TCS-NPs) to assess the ability of NPs in improving the efficacy of intravitreal chemotherapy of retinoblastoma in a rabbit xenograft model., Methods: The coacervation process was used to produce the NPs. The cellular uptake of Cyanine-3 (CY3)-labeled NPs were investigated in human retinoblastoma Y79 cells using confocal microscopy. Also, the prepared TPH-CMD-TCS-NPs were tested in vitro by the tetrazolium dyes II (XTT) and flow cytometry in order to assess their cytotoxicity. In addition, a rabbit xenograft model of retinoblastoma was developed to test the antitumor effectiveness of TPH-CMD-TCS-NPs through intravitreal administration., Results: NPs had a mean diameter, polydispersity index, and zeta potential of 30 ± 4 nm, 0.24 ± 0.03 and +10 ± 3 mV, respectively. NPs (IC50s 40.40 compared to 126.20 nM, P = 0.022) were more effective than free topotecan as a dose-based feature. The tumor reaction to intravitreal chemotherapy with NPs was measured by evaluating the percentage of necrosis in the tumor tissue (91 ± 2%) and vitreous seeds (89 ± 9%) through hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. In comparison with the control group, the TPH-CMD-TCs-NPs treated group showed a significant decrease in tumor volume seven days after the intravitreal injection ( P = 0.039). No significant changes were found in the ERG parameters after the intravitreal injection of TPH-CMD-TCs-NPs or TPH ( P > 0.05)., Conclusion: This investigation revealed definitive antitumor efficacy of TPH-CMD-TCS-NPs by intravitreal administration in the rabbit xenograft retinoblastoma model., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (Copyright © 2023 Delrish et al.)

Background: There is some concern that root resection may alter the surface features and crack formation of the previously set orthograde material. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the crack formation in orthograde mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) plugs after root resection., Materials and Methods: This in vitro study was conducted on 170 extracted human maxillary anterior teeth. The teeth were randomly divided three experimental ( n = 50) and control ( n = 20) groups. In Group 1, after root canal treatment, half of the roots were cut with a bur, and the other half with an ultrasonic cutter. In Groups 2 and 3, after the 4-mm CEM and MTA plugs were placed and set, the root ends of half of the samples were cut with a bur and the other half by an ultrasonic cutter. The prevalence of cracks in the dentin and orthograde apical plugs of MTA and CEM was then assessed by scanning electron microscopy. Data were analyzed using the McNemar's, Chi-square, and Fisher's exact tests at P ≤ 0.05 level of significance., Results: In general, the prevalence of crack in dentin in Groups 2 and 3 was significantly higher than in the plug ( P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of dentin crack in the studied groups ( P > 0.05). The prevalence of crack in dentin was lower when the bur was used to cut off the end of the root, although the difference was not significant. The prevalence of crack in the plug was similar in CEM and MTA., Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the prevalence of crack in dentin is always significantly higher than its prevalence in the plug, and the prevalence of crack in the plug was similar in CEM and MTA; then, when there is an orthograde access to the root canal and surgery is likely in future, MTA and CEM can be placed in an orthograde technique and it just resects the root during surgery., Competing Interests: The authors of this manuscript declare that they have no conflicts of interest, real or perceived, financial or nonfinancial in this article., (Copyright: © 2022 Dental Research Journal.)