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Pulmonary delivery of therapeutic agents has been considered the desirable administration route for local lung disease treatment. As the latest generation of therapeutic agents, nucleic acid has been gradually developed as gene therapy for local diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and lung fibrosis. The features of nucleic acid, specific physiological structure, and pathophysiological barriers of the respiratory tract have strongly affected the delivery efficiency and pulmonary bioavailability of nucleic acid, directly related to the treatment outcomes. The development of pharmaceutics and material science provides the potential for highly effective pulmonary medicine delivery. In this review, the key factors and barriers are first introduced that affect the pulmonary delivery and bioavailability of nucleic acids. The advanced inhaled materials for nucleic acid delivery are further summarized. The recent progress of platform designs for improving the pulmonary delivery efficiency of nucleic acids and their therapeutic outcomes have been systematically analyzed, with the application and the perspectives of advanced vectors for pulmonary gene delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cerasus serrulata has an excellent antioxidative, antibacterial, and anti-alopecia effect, but its active ingredients and the underlying mechanism are currently unclear, in addition to the fact that the active products vary with the extraction methods. Aim: Therefore, this study aims to clarify the active components and antioxidative property of C. serrulata extracted by two different methods (low-temperature vacuum extraction and ethanol extraction) and explore its potential biofunction. Materials and Methods: First, the compositions in extracts were characterized by gas chromatographic mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrography (LC-MS). Then, the antioxidative activity of both extracts was evaluated using free radical scavenging assay (ABTS) and ORAC. Next, the antibacterial activity of both extracts was measured via a bacteriostatic circle experiment. The anti-alopecia effects of both extracts were studied using a mouse model of alopecia. The hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was used to evaluate hair follicles; vascular endothelial-derived growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression in mouse skin were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, while β-catenin expression in tissues was used by immunofluorescence. The expression of FGFR and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in the skin was determined to evaluate using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The levels of DHT and 5α-reductase in the experimental mice were determined by ELISA. Results: The GC-MS analysis results showed that the extracts were rich in alkanes and aromatic compounds, specifically benzaldehyde, which was the highest component in the cold vacuum extraction, while pipecolic acid was the main component in the ethanol extract. This indicates that C. serrulata has components that exhibit strong inhibitory ability against the growth of five common bacterial strains, expressing excellent free radical scavenging ability. In addition, the active ingredients in C. serrulata were found to significantly deregulate the protein levels in the skin of androgenetic alopecia (AGA) mice, with the levels of IL-6. They were also able to significantly inhibit VEGF reduction. The β-catenin was being significantly upregulated in skin tissue. In addition, FGFR and IGF-1 gene expression also increased. The 5α-reductase and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) can be reduced in the C. serrulata treatment. Conclusion: Our data indicate that C. serrulata extract could be beneficial supplements of natural antioxidative, antibacterial, and anti-alopecia agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]