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Poor aqueous solubility results in ineffective drug dissolution and a reduced bioavailability. The poor bioavailability may render even effective medications therapeutically ineffective. Therefore, improving water solubility is necessary in order to enhance drug dissolution and availability at the action site. Drug solubility has been increased using conventional methods, but these methods have many drawbacks, including inconsistent particle size and difficulty in reproducing. Nanotechnology can enable drug targeting and can also offer protection to drugs against degradation. Phytochemicals have some unbelievable benefits when it comes to disease treatment. The integration of phytotherapy and nanotechnology at clinical level will boost pharmacological response and favorable clinical results for the ailing population. The given review is an overview of what may be the consequences, if a drug is poor water soluble and current approaches that further improve these drugs solubility. While such process of solubilization of drugs is also explained. It explains how nanoparticles of drugs, nanocarriers, and lipid-based nano-systems, can be utilized to meet the challenges and which of these methods do already prevail in the market. Finally, it is drawing a line of demarcation and making comparisons between the crude drug formulations and those with enhanced solubility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Baicalin possesses potential anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and anti-oxidant activities. In the present study, we attempted to investigate the preventive effects of baicalin against Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG)-induced inflammation, apoptosis and energy metabolism dysfunction in chicken lungs. Methods: Experimental chickens were randomly divided into 1) control group, 2) MG infection group, 3) MG-infected group treated with baicalin at a dose of 450 mg/kg and 4) baicalin alone treated group (450 mg/kg). After 7 days of post-treatment, serum and lung tissues were collected for different experimental analyses. The hallmarks of inflammation, apoptosis and energy metabolism dysfunction were detected by histological and ultrastructural examination, qRT-PCR, Western blotting and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick endlabeling (TUNEL) assay. Results: The level of serum inflammatory markers were increased with MG infection. Histological and ultrastructural analysis showed excessive inflammatory cells infiltrates, alveolar wall thickening, hemorrhages, mitochondrial and nuclear damage, including mitochondrial swelling and condensation of DNA in the lungs of chickens infected with MG. TUNEL assay positive-stained nuclei were significantly increased in MG infection group. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression level of energy metabolism-related genes and ATPase activities were significantly reduced. Meanwhile, MG-induced morphological and ultrastructural changes were partially disappeared with baicalin-treatment, and the level of serum inflammatory markers were significantly reduced. It has been noted that baicalin significantly attenuated MG-induced inflammation and apoptosis in the chicken lungs through the suppression of nuclear factor-kappa B and reduced extensive positive-stained apoptotic nuclei. More importantly, ATPase activities and mRNA and protein expression level of energy metabolism-related genes were significantly improved with baicalin-treatment in the lungs of chickens infected with MG. Conclusion: Conclusively, it has been suggested from these results that baicalin-treatment efficiently prevented MG-induced inflammation, apoptosis and energy metabolism dysfunction in the chicken lungs and provide basis for new therapeutic targets to control MG infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response surface design was used to pretreat sugarcane bagasse (SB) with urea (U)/potassium hydroxide (K) at low temperatures. Alkaline pretreatment can increase the digestibility of biomass by removing lignin. However, this pretreatment has common issues, such as high-water consumption and liquid waste generation. To address these issues, this study was conducted to perform the UK pretreatment without washing steps. Under optimized pretreatment condition (−20 °C, 7.5 % UK), hemicellulose and lignin removal were increased approximately by 1.4 (26.18–18.86 %) and 1.7 folds (21.25 % to 12.43 %), respectively, while cellulose increased by 1.6-fold (42.39–68.34 %) as compared to control. This enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis by 3.16-fold (75.15 %). In addition, physicochemical analyses revealed that U facilitates fiber opening, reduces the crystallinity index of cellulose (55.06–49.03 %), and prevents lignin droplet formation from adhering to cellulose. Hence, UK pretreatment can be a promising pretreatment technology for lignocellulosic valorization towards biorefinery without any washing in restoring the liquid substances. [Display omitted] • Urea/KOH pretreatment effectively depolymerize and dissolve lignin. • Direct enzymatic hydrolysis of unwashed UK-treated SB was achieved. • The enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency increased to 76.1 % with delignification rate 41.50 %. • This method explains the role and mechanism of urea in alkali treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]