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Food safety is critical during pregnancy. Pregnancy hormone changes reduce immune function, making pregnant women more vulnerable to food-borne illnesses. The unborn fetus is particularly sensitive to food-borne diseases since its immune system has not yet matured. Pregnant women must be extremely cautious about what they eat since they are eating not just for their health but also for the health of their unborn babies. When a pregnant woman eats well, she reduces her chances of anemia, low birth weight, and birth defects. Herbal medication use during pregnancy is associated with a woman's age, family financial level, and educational standing. Preeclampsia risk was reduced, labor was extended, and the common cold and urinary tract infection were all treated with herbal treatments during pregnancy. Some herbal products may include ingredients that should not be eaten while pregnant. Herbs may include elements that cause fetal damage, uterine contractions, premature delivery, or miscarriage. The effects of various herbs on pregnant women or fetuses have not been well researched. Herbal drugs are subjected to quality control to ensure consistency, safety, and efficacy. According to this approach, the purpose of this review was to give succinct information on comprehensive food intake, dietary supplements, and the use of herbal items during pregnancy.

As a new approach to solid dosage forms, mini-tablets (MTs) are designed to subjugate some kind of therapeutic disincentives, like poor swallowing properties and polypharmacy therapy, as well as to provide therapeutic advantages like dose flexibility and release patterns. These pills are a viable method of delivering medication to patients. It has smaller tablets than typical, with a diameter of between 2 and 3 mm, compared to conventional tablets. Other advantages of tiny tablets include their uniform shape and size, which reduces unit-to-unit fluctuation in the medicine and allows for precise weighing of the substance. Since they have a very smooth surface area, it is possible to cover them with a drug-delaying coating in order to prolong their shelf life. It can also be used in the same way as other multiple-dose forms, such as capsules. MTs are a good substitute for pellets and granules. Lower potential drugs can be encapsulated as mini tablets in different sizes of gelatin capsule shells if the qualities are adequately regulated. This review article depicts various aspects of mini-tablets, such as their marketed product, types, formulation prospects, current trends of manufacturing, novelties in research work, and patent-related works that will be beneficial for those who are conducting research on the formulation and development of this mini tablet dosage form.

Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) is a base of biological sciences and other life stuffs. It gives the knowledge of sustainability with nature and natural products. Urbanization and globalization minimise the ITK practises throughout the world, and human are facing different problems in almost every aspect. The documentation, preservation, and restoration of ITK practises are important element of the contemporary situation. It gives the base for ethnopharmacological works, which are important for health care systems. In this view, the book entitled “Indigenous Traditional Knowledge & Ethnopharmacology” will be helpful for students, researchers, academicians, and intellectuals.

Black fungus is the latest threat to the patients who just recovered from the covid-19. Black fungus is a type of mucormycosis infection, predominantly seen in patients with co-morbidities, mainly diabetes, cancer, immunocompromised infections, and organ transplant. Rising black fungus cases are not only a major aesthetic problem disrupting the medical and socioeconomic system, but it also senses another upcoming pandemic in India. Black fungus has a clinical appearance that is indistinguishable from other common illnesses at first, and it is invariably deadly unless diagnosed early or untreated vigorously. Rapid and precise diagnostic procedures, as well as the availability of less toxic, more effective antifungal drugs like posaconazole and isavuconazole, should be pursued as targets for improved black fungus care. The liposomal Amphotericin B had brought new rays of hope for treating black fungus by providing better efficacy amongst people. Since there is a dearth of literature regarding the management of black fungus patients, the article focused on the incidences, prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment protocol, to gain insight into the extent of this epidemic in India in 2021.

Abstract: Onychomycosis is an infection caused by a fungus that causes discoloration and thicken-ing of the nail layer, and it is the most common nail infection in the world. Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. interdigital is the most common anthropophilic dermato-phytes that trigger it. Onychomycosis is caused by yeasts such as Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis, as well as moulds such as Aspergillus spp. Treatment is determined by the type of nail invasion, the fungus genus, and the number of nails affected. Approaches towards conventional methods showed certain drawbacks, which emphasizes the need for alternate approaches to produce better therapeutic efficacy of a product. The present review focused on reporting an updated classi-fication of Onchyomycosis, causative organisms, factors influencing drug permeation, novel treat-ment strategies for Onychomycosis, and drug permeation enhancement methods.

OBJECTIVES: Abiraterone acetate is a well-known anticancer drug and a steroidal derivative of progesterone for treatment of patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Chemometrics-assisted reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) development of the drug abiraterone acetate has been employed in this study using an analytical quality by design (AQbD) approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Drug separation was performed using a Princeton Merck-Hibar Purospher STAR (C18, 250 mm × 4.6 mm) i.d., 5 μm particle size) with ultraviolet detection at 235 nm. A Box-Behnken statistical experimental design with response surface methodology was executed for method optimization and desired chromatographic separation from its formulation with a few numbers of experimental trials. The impact of three independent variables, namely, composition of the mobile phase, pH, and flow rate, on response retention time and peak area was studied by constructing an arithmetic model from these variables. RESULTS: Optimized experimental conditions for the proposed work include the mobile phase acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (10 mM KH(2)PO(4)) (20:80 %v/v). At the concentration range of 2-100 μg/mL, a linear calibration curve was found. Recovery was performed at three concentrations and was foun to be between 98% and 102%. The 3D response surface curves revealed that mobile phase composition and flow rate were the most substantial critical factors affecting desired responses. CONCLUSION: An attempt has been made to develop and validate an economical, precise, robust, stability-indicating AQbD-based RP-HPLC method that can be employed successfully for the routine analysis of abiraterone acetate in quality control labs.

The rapid development of drug resistant micro-organisms is a challenge to the mankind. Nano formulated compounds have proved to be effective strategy to combat bacterial drug resistance. Currently nanoparticulate systems such as nanoantibiotics are getting major attention due to their low inherent toxicity, biodegradability, bioincompatibility and tuneable mechanical characteristics. Nano formulated antibiotics are generally obtained by emulsification and gelification techniques. The effective uses of polymers in encapsulation of antibiotics show enhancement of the efficacy of antibiotics. Combined with techniques like diffraction laser spectroscopy (DLS), electron microscopy (EM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), morphological research of nanoformulated antibiotics are conducted. The detailed study of the polymers used in the preparation of antibiotics nanoparticles as well as their impact on interactions is done by bio-analytical techniques. Antibiotics attached to nanoparticles can avoid the action of enzymes produced by drug resistant bacteria. Nano antibiotics show higher efficacy and bioavailability so a lot of new formulations using nano methods can be developed with the help of bioanalytical techniques. The development as well as the estimation of antibiotics prepared as nano-formulations as per the recent advanced techniques is illustrated in this review.

Diseases are there, some are curable but certain diseases are life threatening. The dreadfulness of liver fibrosis created much attention in 21st century among pharmaceutical researchers. Usually liver fibrosis is asymptomatic and patients with advanced cirrhosis symptoms will have limited scope for reversibility. Recognition of asymptomatic individuals by considering them as critical is the fundamental step to control the liver-related morbidity and mortality. By reviewing the previous mortality analysis around the globe it is reported that liver fibrosis is the second leading cause of mortality in US, fifth most common cause of death in Germany, UK as well as tenth most frequent cause of fatality in India and around 10 lakh patients are diagnosed globally in every year. Liver fibrosis often leads to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and progress towards liver failure which results due to excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, especially collagen type-1 contributed by hepatic stellate cells. The current study is based on for analyzing the molecular basis of liver fibrosis so that, it will be helpful for finding its route cause in cellular level which will guide as a future direction for developing new theranostic approaches for the early diagnosis of liver fibrosis.

The aim of this study was to assess the anti-anxiety and CNS depressant properties of hydro-alcoholic extract of Pongamia pinnata leaves (HALEPP). Standard methods were used to screen the HALEPP's phytochemicals, which showed that the extract contains Flavones, alkaloids, glycosides, proteins and amino acids, gum and mucilage as well as flavonoids, saponins, and steroid hormones. Even at the dose level of 1000 mg/kg body weight, the HALEPP showed no signs of toxicity or mortality in the acute toxicity report. The anti-anxiety behaviour of was studied using light and dark model methods in rats. The CNS depressant action was studied using the extract and actophotometer (Rolex) in rats. The research group (HALEPP 200 gm/kg treated) animals displayed strong anti-anxiety and CNS depressant behaviour similar to the control group (diazepam treated) animals in the current study. The study's findings suggest that the hydro-alcoholic Pongamia pinnata leaf extract has strong anti-anxiety and CNS depressant properties. Keywords: Pongamia pinnata, Anti-Anxiety & CNS depressant

Many efforts have been made through publication of traditional studies on plants to increase the interest and improve on natural remedy since past few years. Eleusine indica is a diploid species of genus Eleusine belongs to family Poaceae. More than 20 diseases are traditionally treated by this plant around the different tropical and subtropical region of world. Phytochemically many inorganic and organic active constituents have been isolated from the plant. Many secondary metabolites has been isolated and identified such as vitexin, isovitexin, orientin, isoorientin, lutein, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol and derivatives of sterol glucosides belongs to categories of flavonoids, caretenoid and sterols. Plant possesses active constituents attributes several pharmacological actions like antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, anticonvulsant, antiobesity, anticancer, antihypertensive, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, etc. Further investigations are essential to fulfil many research gaps which were identified and still many bioactive constituents have to be discover in respect to traditional and pharmacological use.

Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of metabolic disorder associated with elevated blood glucose level. World health organization recommended the traditional and herbal remedies for the diabetic management. The application of herbal remedies is extremely increased worldwide in the last three decades. Most of the synthetic drugs were discovered from the plant source out of different regions of the world to meet the demand. Several medicinal plants like Gymnema sylvestre, Pterocarpus marsupium, Catharanthus roseus, Trigonella foenum, Annona squamosa, Aegle marmelos, Withania somnifera, Boerhavia diffusa, Boerhavia erecta, Momordica charantia, Cocos nucifera, Ricinus communis, Azadira chtaindica and Aloe vera have been reported to have varying level of hypoglycemic property. One of the factors involved in the evolution of diabetic convolutions is the impairment due to free radicals and hence a compound with antioxidant and antidiabetic potential would be more effective. The present review article was designed to provide an absolute data on these medicinal plant based remedies by using the traditional healers of Odisha state, India.

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita L., Chamomilla recutita L., Matricaria chamomilla) is one of the most favoured single ingredient herbs. Chamomile tea is prepared by brewing the dried flower heads which has been used as traditional remedy. It is a crop introduced into India, mainly grown in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir states of India. The valuable unknown properties of this multipurpose herb should be explored to determine the therapeutic properties of its different parts, extracts, oils, etc. The flowers constitute many phenolic compounds like flavonoids, apigenin, patuletin, glucosides, luteolin and quercetin as main components. This herb is used as an antioxidant, antidepressant, antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticarcinogenic and hepatoprotective agents. In addition to that, it is also useful in treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, premenstrual syndrome, knee osteoarthritis andulcerative colitis. Matricaria Recutita chamomilla L. is used for both therapeutically and non-therapeutically around the globe that precipitate its remarkable worth. Chamomile contents of essential oils are widely used in aromatherapy and cosmetics. Most popular chamomile preparation is herbal tea which has been developed and consumed by more than one million cups per day across the globe. This review article briefs about the therapeutic efficiency along with phytology and cultivation techniques.

The purpose of this research was to formulate Polymeric (Chitosan/PEG blended PLGA) nanoparticles containing Pioglitazone as a model drug using the solvent evaporation method. The resultant nanoparticles were characterized by dynamic laser spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The nanoparticles had a spherical shape with a mean particle diameter of 323 ± 1.15 nm. Furthermore, data from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) research revealed no drug-polymer interaction. The efficiency of drug encapsulation was determined to be 61.7 ± 2.91%. The formulated nanoparticles also showed improved drug bioavailability in an

Annona squamosa is most widely distributed in tropical and subtropical region native to tropical America comes under the Annonaceae family. It is a widely used tree having edible fruits called as custard apple which is eatable. Annona squamosa plant also contains 35-42 mg/100 g of vitamin C and significant value of nutrient like thiamine, amino acid, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, potassium and dietary fibers. It also contains the phytoconstituents like diterpenes, alkaloids, cyclopeptides and annonaceous acetogenins proved by phytochemistry investigations. The plant Annona squamosa show a number of pharmacological activities like insecticidal, anticancer, hypoglycemic, antioxidant, antimalarial, analgesic and wound healing activity. The vermicidal effect of leaves is responsible for the treatment of tumors, wounds and other skin infections. A number of alkaloids were isolated from the leaves of plant. Most of them belong to aporphine group of alkaloids. Among all the phytoconstituents an alkaloid Annonaine, plays a vital role for its biological activity. The present review represents the phytochemical constituents, biological action, traditional as well as medicinal uses of Annona squamosa. Sugar apple might be the better explored plant part used in treatment of many disorders and the present critical study will hopefully provide a disease free and healthy life to the human society.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the antidiabetic and hyperlipidemic potential of stem bark extract of

Effective treatment of brain tumor remains a challenge in medical science. Gliomas are the most common type of tumors of brain and central nervous system [Giakoumettis D et al., 2018]. Based on the type of primary cells along with molecular characteristics, gliomas can be of astrocytomas, ependymomas, oligodendrogliomas etc. Glioma is characterized by its uncontrolled cellular proliferation, diffused infiltration along with significant angiogenesis (Kesari S et al., 2011). Glioma at its fourth stage is referred to as glioblastoma multiforme, which is the most dangerous stage with poor prognosis and an average survival rate of 1-2 years [Louis DN et al., 2016]. In spite of all the advanced medical strategies, death rate of glioma patients is increasing at an alarming rate all over the world. The treatment failures may be attributed to the delicate and sensitive characteristics of brain tissue, which limits effective application of surgery or radiation therapy; whereas presence of blood-brain barrier (BBB) further worsens the case [Stamatovic SM et al., 2008]. BBB is the most complex, tight endothelial barrier, which strictly checks the entry of therapeutic molecules into the brain and thus stands as a serious challenge for chemotherapy [Guo J et al., 2017; Bhowmik A et al., 2015]. Although, many conventional anticancer drugs are available in clinical practice, but majority of them fails to maintain the desired therapeutic concentration in the brain tissue for a sufficient period of time due to their inability to pass effectively through BBB [Jain KK et al., 2012] Some lipophilic drugs like carmustine, temozolomide, bevacizumab etc. are being claimed to cross BBB, but shorter half-life along with severe dose related toxic effects associated with them throw additional challenges to get desired treatment outcomes (Athmakur H et al., 2018, Chamberlain MC et al., 2010). In this context, novel drug delivery strategies like nanoliposomes, nanoparticles, polymeric micelles, niosomes, dendrimers etc. have been investigated widely in past years to improve the efficacy of conventional chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of glioma [Hao Y et al., 2015; Li X et al., 2017; Hu X et al., 2017]. However, till today, very few of them have been approved to be used in clinical practice. Among various types of nanocarrier platforms, nanosize lipid based vesicular carriers have been largely preferred for successful delivery of toxic chemotherapeutic drugs to brain [Bondi ML et al., 2012; Laouini A et al., 2012]. Due to high lipophilic nature as well as ultra small size, they fulfill the prime requisite criteria to overcome BBB to get into the brain. Phospholipid based nanostructures (NLs) are the ultra-micron size phospholipid vesicles consisting of self assembled lipid bilayers enclosing small aqueous phase in their core [Akbarzadeh A et al., 2013]. Due to this architectural uniqueness, they act as dual platform for both hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules. The hydrophobic/lipophilic agents get entrapped in the outer lipid bilayer, where as the hydrophilic agents remain encapsulated in the aqueous core [Akbarzadeh A et al., 2013]. NLs owing to their lipophilicity, biodegradability, non-immunogenicity, biocompatibility, sustained drug release property, ease of surface manipulation etc. have drawn the attention of formulation scientists as preferred drug delivery vehicles in nanomedicine based research [Sonali S et al., 2016; Shufeng Y et al., 2019]. Due to sustained delivery of the loaded cargo as well as site-specific delivery, the dose of the cytotoxic anti-cancer drugs is expected to be reduced, which leading to better treatment outcome and fewer side effects. Lomustine is a nitrosourea class of antineoplastic agent, which is used in the treatment of various types of malignancies, including glioma [Harvey KA et al., 2015]. It inhibits protein synthesis by causing alkylation and cross-linking in the nucleic acids (DNA/RNA). Being lipophlic in nature, it posses the capacity to cross BBB, however, its short half life and deadly side effects like severe bone marrow depression, leucopenia, etc. limits its effective use in the treatment of glioma [Lonardi S et al., 2005; Fisusi FA et al., 2015]. Thus, there is a need to develop novel strategies for the safer and effective delivery of lomustine to brain and thereby reducing the dose-related side effects associated with the conventional forms. Kevin A. Harvey et al. studied anticancer properties of lomustine in conjunction with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in glioblastoma cell lines. They studied effects of lomustine, alone and in combination with DHA inC6 human glioblastoma cell line. (Kevin A. Harvey et al., 2015). In another study, lomustine nanoparticles prepared by molecular envelope technology was tested on C6 glioblastoma bearing animal model (Funmilola A. Fisusi et al., 2016). Another work reported an optimized method of development of poly (d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) based lomustine nanoparticles and investigated their anticancer potential in lung cancer cell line L132 (Mehrotra1 A. et al., 2015). However, to our knowledge, no reports are available on the anticancer potential of lomustine loaded lipid nanostructures (LNLs) on C6 glioma cells and also on their in vivo pharmacokinetic (PK) profile. In the lieu of which, the present study aims to investigate the anticancer potential of optimized LNLs on rat glioma cells along with evaluation of both blood and brain PK profiles in experimental animal model. The LNLs will be prepared by conventional method with optimization of critical manufacturing conditions to achieve the desired nanosize. Preferably, we want to keep the size of LNLs within 100 nm range for effective permeation into brain as well as to escape from reticulo-endothelial system. The experimental LNLs will be evaluated by different in vitro techniques and the optimized formulation will be tested for its in vitro anticancer effectiveness in C6 glioma cells. Further in vivo blood and brain PK study along with fluorescent microscopic examination of brain tissue will be carried out in experimental mice to estimate the potentiality of the optimized formulation both qualitatively and quantitatively to deliver LS successfully into brain tissue.

Cancer is a class of disorder characterized by anomalous growth of cells escalating in an uncontrolled way. Among all the cancers, treatment of cancerous brain tumors has been a tough challenge for the research scientists. Moreover, the absence of early-stage symptoms delays its diagnosis, consequently worsening its severity. Conventional treatments such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are still linked with several limitations. The therapeutic effect of most of the anticancer drugs is highly restricted by their inability to pass the blood-brain barrier, low solubility, limited therapeutic window, and so on. Alarming incidences of brain cases associated with low survival rate across the globe coupled with the inefficiency of current treatment strategies have forced the formulation scientists to investigate nanotechnology-based advanced therapeutic approaches to tackle the disease. Various nanoplatforms such as polymeric nanoparticles (NPs), nanoliposomes, dendrimers, carbon nanotubes, and magnetic NPs have been reported in the past years to improve the drug administration into brain tumor cells and to minimize their off-target distribution for lesser side effects and better treatment outcomes. The review presents updated information on the nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems reported in the past few years for the treatment of brain tumor along with new advancements in this field. It also throws some light on the recent challenges faced in the practical field for the successful clinical translation of such nanodrug carriers along with a discussion on the future prospects.

For the large production of plants; tissue, organ, embryo culture, cell may act as an important technique for the in-vitro plant culture to produce the disease-free plants, crop improvement via gene transfer and through cryopreservation. This paper presents the fungal contamination of Anthuriumandreanum was caused by fungus like Penicilliumcrysogenum, Fusarium, Aspergillusniger, Alternariaspp, Penicilliumspp, Aspergillusoryzae, Cladosporium and then controlling the contamination by the effect of fungicides. All the experiments were completed in vitro at Biotechnology cum Tissue Culture Centre (BTCC) OUAT centre, Bhubaneswar. The fungal contamination and controlling procedures were kept in the incubator for at least 1 week at 27.5? C.

Poly-lactide-co-glycolide nanoparticles (207–605 nm) containing voriconazole (VNPs) were developed using a multiple-emulsification technique and were also made porous during preparation in presence of an effervescent mixture for improved pulmonary delivery. Pulmonary deposition of the particles was studied using a customized inhalation chamber. VNPs had a maximum of 30% (w/w) drug loading and a zeta potential (ZP) value around − 20 mV. In the initial 2 hours, 20% of the drug was released from VNPs, followed by sustained release for 15 days. Porous particles had a lower mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) than nonporous particles. Porous particles produced the highest initial drug deposition (~ 120 μg/g of tissue). The drug was detectable in lungs until 7 days and 5 days after administration, for porous and nonporous particles, respectively. VNPs with improved drug loading were successfully delivered to murine lungs. Porous nanoparticles with lower MMADs showed better pulmonary deposition and sustained presence in lungs. From the Clinical Editor In this paper, voriconazole-containing porous nanoparticles were studied for inhalational delivery to lung infections in a murine model, demonstrating prolonged half-life and improved pulmonary deposition.

Human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) hide themselves in macrophages at the early stage of infection. Delivering drug in a sustained manner from polymeric nanoparticles in those cells could control the disease effectively. The study was intended to develop poly(d,l-lactic-co-glycolic acid)-based nanoparticles containing didanosine and to observe their uptake by macrophages in vitro. Various physicochemical evaluations related to nanoparticles, such as drug-excipient interaction, surface morphology, particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index, drug loading, in vitro drug release and nanoparticle-uptake by macrophages in vitro were determined. Homogenising speeds and drug-polymer ratio varied drug loading and polydispersity index of nanoparticles, providing sustained drug release. Dimethyl sulphoxide/polyethylene glycol improved drug loading predominantly. Nanoparticle-uptake by macrophages was concentration dependent. Experimental nanoparticles successfully transported didanosine to macrophages in vitro, suggesting reduction of dose, thus minimising toxicity and side effects. Developed nanoparticle may control HIV infection effectively at an early stage.

Biswajit Mukherjee, Kousik Santra, Gurudutta Pattnaik, Soma GhoshDepartment of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, IndiaAbstract: Controlled drug delivery technology of proteins/peptides from biodegradable nanoparticles has emerged as one of the eminent areas to overcome formulation associated problems of the macromolecules. The purpose of the present investigation was to develop protein-loaded nanoparticles using biodegradable polymer poly L-lactide-co-glycolidic acid (PLGA) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein. Despite many studies available with PLGA-based protein-loaded nanoparticles, production know-how, process parameters, protein loading, duration of protein release, narrowing polydispersity of particles have not been investigated enough to scale up manufacturing of protein-loaded nanoparticles in formulations. Different process parameters such as protein/polymer ratio, homogenizing speed during emulsifications, particle surface morphology and surface charges, particle size analysis and in-vitro protein release were investigated. The in-vitro protein release study suggests that release profile of BSA from nanoparticles could be modulated by changing protein-polymer ratios and/or by varying homogenizing speed during multiple-emulsion preparation technique. The formulation prepared with protein-polymer ratio of 1:60 at 17,500 rpm gave maximum protein-loading, minimum polydispersion with maximally sustained protein release pattern, among the prepared formulations. Decreased (10,000 rpm) or enhanced (24,000 rpm) homogenizing speeds resulted in increased polydispersion with larger particles having no better protein-loading and -release profiles in the present study.Keywords: bovine serum albumin (BSA), poly-L-lactide-co-glycolidic acid (PLGA), nanoparticles

Despite improvements in our understanding of cancer and the emerging concept of personalized medicine for the treatment of this disease, it is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Although, in recent years, significant advances have been achieved in cancer therapy, many tumors are still challenging to treat and novel strategies are required to effectively combat this deadly disease. Nanotheranostics is a burgeoning field which makes use of nanotechnology for diagnosis and therapy of cancer. The recent advancement in the area of nanotechnology has enabled a new generation of different types of nanomaterials composed of either inorganic or polymer based nanoparticles to be useful for nanotheranostics applications such as to diagnose and treat diseases and monitoring the therapeutic response in vivo at molecular level; to enhance the control, evaluation and optimization of drug delivery and release; to target the drug by conjugating theranostic nanoplatformes with biological ligands. This review, therefore, summarizes the various nanocarriers developed so far for the simultaneous imaging and therapy, strategies for their targeted delivery, their potential applications and the challe nges in their development and application for cancer therapy. Key words : Cancer; Cancer therapy; Nanoparticles; Nanotheranostics.

Blood brain barrier (BBB) found to act as rate limiting factor in drug delivery to brain in combating the central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Such limiting physiological factors include the reticuloendothelial system and protein opsonization, which present across BBB, play major role in reducing the passage of drug. Several approaches employed to improve the drug delivery across the BBB. Nanoparticles (NP) are the solid colloidal particle ranges from 1 to 1000 nm in size utilized as career for drug delivery. At present NPs are found to play a significant advantage over the other methods of available drug delivery systems to deliver the drug across the BBB. Nanoparticles may be because of its size and functionalization characteristics able to penetrate and facilitate the drug delivery through the barrier. There are number of mechanisms and strategies found to be involved in this process, which are based on the type of nanomaterials used and its combination with therapeutic agents, such materials include liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles and non-viral vectors of nano-sizes for CNS gene therapy, etc. Nanotechnology is expected to reduce the need for invasive procedures for delivery of therapeutics to the CNS. Some devices such as implanted catheters and reservoirs however will still be needed to overcome the problems in effective drug delivery to the CNS. Nanomaterials are found to improve the safety and efficacy level of drug delivery devices in brain targeting. Nanoegineered devices are found to be delivering the drugs at cellular levels through nono-fluidic channels. Different drug delivery systems such as liposomes, microspheres, nanoparticles, nonogels and nonobiocapsules have been used to improve the bioavailability of the drug in the brain, but microchips and biodegradable polymeric nanoparticulate careers are found to be more effective therapeutically in treating brain tumor. The physiological approaches also utilized to improve the transcytosis capacity of specific receptors expressed across the BBB. It is found that the low density lipoproteins related protein (LPR) with engineered peptide compound (EpiC) formed the platform incorporating the Angiopep peptide as a new effective therapeutics. The current challenges are to design and develop the drug delivery careers, which must be able to deliver the drug across the BBB at a safe and effective manner. Nanoparticles are found to be effective careers in delivery of conventional drugs, recombinant proteins, vaccines as well as nucleotides. Nanoparticlulate drug delivery systems are found to be improving in the pharmacokinetic strategies of the drug molecules such as biodistribution, bioavailability and drug release characteristics in a controlled and effective manner with site specific drug delivery targeting to tissue or cell with reduction in toxic manifestation. Therefore, the use of nanotechnology in the field of pharmaceutical biotechnology helps in improving the drug delivery strategy including the kinetics and therapeutic index to solve the delivery problems of some biotech drugs including the recombinant proteins and oligonucleotides. This review is made to provide an insight to the role of nanobiotechnology in drug delivery and drug targeting to brain and its recent advances in the field of drug delivery systems.