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Bernardo da Fonseca Orcina,1 Fabiano Vieira Vilhena,2 Rodrigo Cardoso de Oliveira,1 Lucas Marques da Costa Alves,3 Koiti Araki,4 Sérgio Hiroshi Toma,4 Mariana Schutzer Ragghianti Zangrando,1 Paulo Sérgio da Silva Santos1 1University of Sao Paulo, Faculty of Dentistry of Bauru, Department of Surgery, Stomatology, Pathology and Radiology, Bauru, SP, Brazil; 2TRIALS – Oral Health & Technologies, Bauru, SP, Brazil; 3Hospital Estadual de Bauru, Bauru, SP, Brazil; 4University of Sao Paulo, Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilCorrespondence: Paulo Sérgio da Silva SantosDepartment of Surgery, Stomatology, Pathology and Radiology, Bauru School of Dentistry, University of Sao Paulo, Al. Dr. Octávio Pinheiro Brisolla, 9 -75, Bauru, CEP 17012-901, São PauloTel +55 14 99670 – 0921Email paulosss@fob.usp.brAim: This case series demonstrated that phthalocyanine derivate mouthwash is a promising alternative for reducing the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 and for clinical improvement of infected patients who presented mild and moderate symptoms.Purpose: The aim of this study was to report a case series of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 that used the phthalocyanine derivate mouthwash to reduce clinical symptoms.Patients and Methods: Eight patients used 5mL of phthalocyanine derivate mouthwash gargling/rinsing for one minute, five times daily, over a fourteen day period. Two measurement scales were applied for each patient in different periods to verify sore throat – VAS – Visual Analogue Scale for Pain and the clinical conditions – PS – Performance Status.Results: All patients presented a significant reduction in clinical symptoms with the use of the mouthwash for gargling/rinsing after few days of use, without hospitalization.Conclusion: The phthalocyanine derivate mouthwash protocol appears as a potential alternative for clinical improvement of COVID-19 infected patients. Daily use of this mouthwash rapidly reduced clinical symptoms such as sore throats, cough and mouth ulcers. Large, high-quality randomized controlled trials with larger sample size are necessary to confirm the effectiveness of this mouthwash protocol against COVID-19.Keywords: mouthwash, sore throats, mouth ulcers, coronavirus infections

Carine C Drewes,1 Aline de CS Alves,2,3 Cristina B Hebeda,1 Isabela Copetti,2,3 Silvana Sandri,1 Mayara K Uchiyama,4 Koiti Araki,4 Silvia S Guterres,2 Adriana R Pohlmann,2,3 Sandra H Farsky1 1Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analyses, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, 2Postgraduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 4Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Abstract: Metastatic melanoma is an aggressive cancer with increasing incidence and limited therapies in advanced stages. Systemic neutrophilia or abundant neutrophils in the tumor contribute toward its worst prognosis, and the interplay of cancer and the immune system has been shown in tumor development and metastasis. We recently showed the in vivo efficacy of poly(ε-caprolactone) lipid-core nanocapsule (LNC) or LNC loaded with acetyleugenol (AcE-LNC) to treat B16F10-induced melanoma in mice. In this study, we investigated whether LNC or AcE-LNC toxicity could involve modifications on crosstalk of melanoma cells and neutrophils. Therefore, melanoma cells (B16F10) were pretreated with vehicle, LNC, AcE or AcE-LNC for 24 h, washed and, further, cocultured for 18 h with peritoneal neutrophils obtained from C57Bl/6 mice. Melanoma cells were able to internalize the LNC or AcE-LNC after 2 h of incubation. LNC or AcE-LNC pretreatments did not cause melanoma cells death, but led melanoma cells to be more susceptible to death in serum deprivation or hypoxia or in the presence of neutrophils. Interestingly, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which causes cell death, was increased by neutrophils in the presence of LNC- and AcE-LNC-pretreated melanoma cells. LNC or AcE-LNC treatments reduced the concentration of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in the supernatant of melanoma cells, a known factor secreted by cancer cells to induce pro-tumoral actions of neutrophils in the tumor microenvironment. In addition, we found reduced levels of pro-tumoral chemical mediators VEGF, arginase-1, interleukin-10 (IL-10) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the supernatant of LNC or AcE-LNC-pretreated melanoma cells and cocultured with neutrophils. Overall, our data show that the uptake of LNC or AcE-LNC by melanoma cells affects intracellular mechanisms leading to more susceptibility to death and also signals higher neutrophil antitumoral activity. Keywords: hypoxia, serum deprivation, apoptosis, coculture, tumor microenvironment, LNC, acetyleugenol, intravital microscopy

Carine C Drewes,1,* Luana A Fiel,2,* Celina G Bexiga,1 Ana Carolina C Asbahr,3 Mayara K Uchiyama,4 Bruno Cogliati,5 Koiti Araki,4 Sílvia S Guterres,2,3 Adriana R Pohlmann,2,3,6 Sandra P Farsky1 1Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analyses, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, 2Postgraduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 3Postgraduate Program in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 4Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, 5Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, 6Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Melanoma is a severe metastatic skin cancer with poor prognosis and no effective treatment. Therefore, novel therapeutic approaches using nanotechnology have been proposed to improve therapeutic effectiveness. Lipid-core nanocapsules (LNCs), prepared with poly(ε-caprolactone), capric/caprylic triglyceride, and sorbitan monostearate and stabilized by polysorbate 80, are efficient as drug delivery systems. Here, we investigated the effects of acetyleugenol-loaded LNC (AcE-LNC) on human SK-Mel-28 melanoma cells and its therapeutic efficacies on melanoma induced by B16F10 in C57B6 mice. LNC and AcE-LNC had z-average diameters and zeta potential close to 210 nm and -10.0 mV, respectively. CytoViva® microscopy images showed that LNC and AcE-LNC penetrated into SK-Mel-28 cells, and remained in the cytoplasm. AcE-LNC in vitro treatment (18–90×109 particles/mL; 1 hour) induced late apoptosis and necrosis; LNC and AcE-LNC (3–18×109 particles/mL; 48 hours) treatments reduced cell proliferation and delayed the cell cycle. Elevated levels of nitric oxide were found in supernatant of LNC and AcE-LNC, which were not dependent on nitric oxide synthase expressions. Daily intraperitoneal or oral treatment (days 3–10 after tumor injection) with LNC or AcE-LNC (1×1012 particles/day), but not with AcE (50 mg/kg/day, same dose as AcE-LNC), reduced the volume of the tumor; nevertheless, intraperitoneal treatment caused toxicity. Oral LNC treatment was more efficient than AcE-LNC treatment. Moreover, oral treatment with nonencapsulated capric/caprylic triglyceride did not inhibit tumor development, implying that nanocapsule supramolecular structure is important to the therapeutic effects. Together, data herein presented highlight the relevance of the supramolecular structure of LNCs to toxicity on SK-Mel-28 cells and to the therapeutic efficacy on melanoma development in mice, conferring novel therapeutic mechanisms to LNC further than a drug delivery system. Keywords: capric/caprylic triglycerides, mice, acetyleugenol, B16F10 cells, SK-Mel-28, nitric oxide, cell proliferation, nanotoxicology

Mayara Klimuk Uchiyama,1 Sergio Hiroshi Toma,1 Stephen Fernandes de Paula Rodrigues,2 Ana Lucia Borges Shimada,2 Rodrigo Azevedo Loiola,2 Hernán Joel Cervantes Rodríguez,3 Pedro Vitoriano Oliveira,4 Maciel Santos Luz,4 Said Rahnamaye Rabbani,3 Henrique Eisi Toma,1 Sandra Helena Poliselli Farsky,2 Koiti Araki11Laboratory of Supramolecular Chemistry and Nanotechnology, Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, 2Laboratory of Experimental Toxicology, Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, Department of General Physics, Institute of Physics, 4Analysis and Research Group in Spectrometry, Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilAbstract: Fully dispersible, cationic ultrasmall (7 nm diameter) superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, exhibiting high relaxivity (178 mM-1s-1 in 0.47 T) and no acute or subchronic toxicity in Wistar rats, were studied and their suitability as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging and material for development of new diagnostic and treatment tools demonstrated. After intravenous injection (10 mg/kg body weight), they circulated throughout the vascular system causing no microhemorrhage or thrombus, neither inflammatory processes at the mesentery vascular bed and hepatic sinusoids (leukocyte rolling, adhesion, or migration as evaluated by intravital microscopy), but having been spontaneously concentrated in the liver, spleen, and kidneys, they caused strong negative contrast. The nanoparticles are cleared from kidneys and bladder in few days, whereas the complete elimination from liver and spleen occurred only after 4 weeks. Ex vivo studies demonstrated that cationic ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles caused no effects on hepatic and renal enzymes dosage as well as on leukocyte count. In addition, they were readily concentrated in rat thigh by a magnet showing its potential as magnetically targeted carriers of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. Summarizing, cationic ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are nontoxic and efficient magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents useful as platform for the development of new materials for application in theranostics.Keywords: cationic USPIOs, MRI, contrast agent, magnetic targeting, in vivo toxicity, intravital microscopy