scholarly journals Plant Therapeutic Proteases: Chemical Aspects, Applications and Pharmaceutical Formulations

Author(s):  
P. F. Ferreira ◽  
R. E. Silva-López

Background: Plants are important sources of therapeutic proteases with expressive activity, stability, specificity, and efficiency. These proteases are employed at low concentrations and produce lesser side effects. They have complex tridimensional structures whose maintenance is a challenge, requiring specific conditions to guarantee the biological and pharmacological activities of these compounds. Aims: To conduct a literature review about plant therapeutic proteases, their principal biochemical aspects, potentials and clinical applications, and main pharmaceutical formulations. Materials and Methods: The present study consisted of a bibliographic survey of the major plant therapeutic proteases. An investigation was performed in the PUBMED, SciELO, ScienceDirect and Academic Google databases using the keywords plant enzymes, therapeutic protease, immobilization, formulation. Results: Some plant therapeutic proteases, such as papain and bromelain, are employed to treat many diseases and conditions, but the complexity of their structures is an important limitation of their uses. Thus, the structure and activities of their formulations need to be stabilized and protected against degradation, with improved pharmacokinetics, a prolonged time of action, reduced toxic effects, and proper direction towards their therapeutic target. Nanotechnology has made it possible to manufacture drug carriers such as polymeric nano- and microparticles, hydrogels, dendrimers and liposomes which are able to increase their efficacy and clinical applicability, as well as patient compliance. Sustainability initiatives that use Green Chemistry together with nanobiotechnology have managed to reduce the risks of toxicity to organisms and the environment. Green synthesis uses lower concentrations of metal ions, water-soluble, biocompatible and non-toxic compounds, as well as seeking energy efficiency and using renewable sources of raw materials. Conclusions: Investigations about new formulations of plant therapeutic proteases using biodegradable and biocompatible polymers is of great biomedical interest because they generate less toxic new biopharmaceuticals, in addition to protecting and stabilizing the enzymatic structure.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (01) ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Naveen Kumar ◽  
Sonia Pahuja ◽  
Ranjit Sharma

Humans have taken advantage of the adaptability of polymers for centuries in the form of resins, gums tars, and oils. However, it was not until the industrial revolution that the modern polymer industry began to develop. Polymers represent an important constituent of pharmaceutical dosage forms. Polymers have played vital roles in the formulation of pharmaceutical products. Polymers have been used as a major tool to manage the drug release rate from the formulations. Synthetic and natural-based polymers have found their way into the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries. Synthetic and Natural polymers can be produced with a broad range of strength, heat resistance, density, stiffness and even price. By constant research into the science and applications of polymers, they are playing an ever-increasing role in society. Diverse applications of polymers in the present pharmaceutical field are for controlled drug release. Based on solubility pharmaceutical polymers can be classified as water-soluble and water-insoluble. In general, the desirable polymer properties in pharmaceutical applications are film forming, adhesion, gelling, thickening, pH-dependent solubility and taste masking. General pharmaceutical applications of polymers in various pharmaceutical formulations are also discussed


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-404
Author(s):  
Sara da Silva Anacleto ◽  
Leila Suleimara Teixeira ◽  
Marcella Matos Cordeiro Borges ◽  
Carolina Torres Moraes ◽  
Warley de Souza Borges ◽  
...  

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1186
Author(s):  
Carmen S. Favaro-Trindade ◽  
Fernando E. de Matos Junior ◽  
Paula K. Okuro ◽  
João Dias-Ferreira ◽  
Amanda Cano ◽  
...  

Nanoencapsulation via spray cooling (also known as spray chilling and spray congealing) has been used with the aim to improve the functionality, solubility, and protection of drugs; as well as to reduce hygroscopicity; to modify taste and odor to enable oral administration; and many times to achieve a controlled release profile. It is a relatively simple technology, it does not require the use of low-cost solvents (mostly associated to toxicological risk), and it can be applied for lipid raw materials as excipients of oral pharmaceutical formulations. The objective of this work was to revise and discuss the advances of spray cooling technology, with a greater emphasis on the development of lipid micro/nanoparticles to the load of active pharmaceutical ingredients for oral administration.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 2948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner E.G. Müller ◽  
Emad Tolba ◽  
Shunfeng Wang ◽  
Qiang Li ◽  
Meik Neufurth ◽  
...  

A new biomimetic strategy to im prove the self-healing properties of Portland cement is presented that is based on the application of the biogenic inorganic polymer polyphosphate (polyP), which is used as a cement admixture. The data show that synthetic linear polyp, with an average chain length of 40, as well as natural long-chain polyP isolated from soil bacteria, has the ability to support self-healing of this construction material. Furthermore, polyP, used as a water-soluble Na-salt, is subject to Na+/Ca2+ exchange by the Ca2+ from the cement, resulting in the formation of a water-rich coacervate when added to the cement surface, especially to the surface of bacteria-containing cement/concrete samples. The addition of polyP in low concentrations (<1% on weight basis for the solids) not only accelerated the hardening of cement/concrete but also the healing of microcracks present in the material. The results suggest that long-chain polyP is a promising additive that increases the self-healing capacity of cement by mimicking a bacteria-mediated natural mechanism.


Author(s):  
K. Сhevchenko ◽  
A. Grigorov ◽  
I. Sinkevich

The article proposes to determine the corrosion effect on fuel metals under dynamic conditions, when washing the prepared copper plate of a certain size, a significant amount of fuel at a certain speed and temperature of the study. This approach will significantly reduce the duration of the study (up to 100 minutes) and is closer to the real conditions of contact of the fuel with a metal surface, in comparison with the standardized method, which is widely used today. Using the proposed laboratory setup, the study was subjected to fuel (200–360 °C), which was obtained by thermal destruction of secondary polymer raw materials, in particular polypropylene. The obtained results showed that the investigated fuel, despite the temperature, the amount of circulating fuel and its water content, does not have a corrosive effect on the copper plate, which can be explained by the absence of corrosive substances in the fuel: water-soluble mineral acids and alkalis, active sulfur compounds and organic acids. However, it should be kept in mind that in polyolefin raw materials, in the form of contamination, there may be products made of other materials, such as rubber and polyvinyl chloride. This can happen when the sorting technology is violated or during the preliminary preparation of raw materials and, in turn, will contribute to the increase in sulfur-containing and chlorine-containing compounds in the fuel, which are characterized by high corrosion activity and should be necessarily removed from the fuel. Note that the fuel obtained from secondary polymer raw materials, in the absence of sulfur-containing and chlorine-containing compounds, is quite promising for the creation on its basis of modern synthetic fuels, analogues of classic petroleum products.


RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (74) ◽  
pp. 60581-60595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Serol Ertürk ◽  
Mustafa Ulvi Gürbüz ◽  
Metin Tülü ◽  
Abdürrezzak Emin Bozdoğan

Microwave-assisted synthesis, characterization and Cu(ii) complexes of water-soluble TRIS-terminated PAMAM dendrimers as novel potential drug carriers and templates for nanomaterials.


1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 877-884 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Hamilton ◽  
Peggy A. Stone

Changing trends in the use of anxiolytic agents and recent reassessment of their neuropharmacological activity has prompted this evaluation of the peripheral neuromuscular activity of the benzodiazepine, flurazepam. In previous reports we have documented peripheral neuromuscular activity of chlordiazepoxide and diazepam on the rat phrenic nerve diaphragm preparation. The water soluble benzodiazepine, flurazepam, has been studied on the rat phrenic nerve diaphragm and frog rectus abdominis in vitro. On the former preparation flurazepam enhanced and then blocked the response to indirect electrical stimulation (0.2 Hz) and readily blocked posttetanic potentiation and prevented the preparation from sustaining a tetanic contracture (30 Hz). On the later preparation, flurazepam blocked in a noncompetitive manner the response of the frog muscle to applied cholinergic agonists. Studies on the rat preparation with the neuromuscular blocking drug succinylcholine have shown an unexpected protection against blockade in preparations pretreated with low concentrations of flurazepam. This was not observed when flurazepam was given prior to d-tubocurarinc. The application of adenosine to rat diaphragms during steady-state partial blockade caused by flurazepam or d-tubocurarine showed an inhibiting action of adenosine which was reversed by theophylline. Pretreatment of rat preparations with dipyridamole significantly enhanced the blocking action of standard concentrations of succinylcholine.These results, along with those in the literature, encourage a reassessment of the action of purines and benzodiazepines on skeletal muscle and encourage a consideration of a possible involvement of purinergic neuromodulation of transmission which is unmasked when the safety factor for transmission is altered by muscle relaxants. The possible clinical significance of protection against succinylcholine by benzodiazepines is noted.


Author(s):  
Ana Aguiar-Ricardo ◽  
Vasco D. B. Bonifácio ◽  
Teresa Casimiro ◽  
Vanessa G. Correia

The integrated use of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2 ) and micro- and nanotechnologies has enabled new sustainable strategies for the manufacturing of new medications. ‘Green’ scCO 2 -based methodologies are well suited to improve either the synthesis or materials processing leading to the assembly of three-dimensional multifunctional constructs. By using scCO 2 either as C1 feedstock or as solvent, simple, economic, efficient and clean routes can be designed to synthesize materials with unique properties such as polyurea dendrimers and oxazoline-based polymers/oligomers. These new biocompatible, biodegradable and water-soluble polymeric materials can be engineered into multifunctional constructs with antimicrobial activity, targeting moieties, labelling units and/or efficiently loaded with therapeutics. This mini-review highlights the particular features exhibited by these materials resulting directly from the followed supercritical routes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-361
Author(s):  
Vladimir Kondratenko ◽  
Tatyana Kondratenko ◽  
Andrey Petrov ◽  
Georgy Belozerov

Introduction. The existing diversity of plant raw materials and products predetermine the prospects of studying their potential as sources of pectin substances. However all current classifications are either fragmented or inconsistent. Study objects and methods. Our theoretical ivestigation aimed to develop an adequate classification for all taxa of plant origin, as well as their tissues and derivatives as pectin-containing materials. We developed criteria for assessing transformation potential of the protopectin complex based on the mass fractions of biologically active non-uronide components, native water-soluble pectin, the protopectin complex, and pectin substances. Individual boundary conditions were based on individual pectin potential, protopectin fragmentation potential, and pectin isolation potential. Results and discussion. Based on the boundary conditions, we defined an universal criterion space that included a set of points M in the coordinates expressed by three main criteria. According to individual boundary conditions, the criterion space was divided, or zoned, into four domains corresponding to protopectin fragmentation potential. They were characterized by: 1) lack of pectin potential, 2) ineffective protopectin fragmentation, 3) ineffective isolation of fragmentation products, and 4) effective isolation. Finally, we developed a generalized algorithm to determine the location of points M[μ1, μ2 , μ3 ] in the zoned criterion space, characterizing the plant tissue. Conclusion. Our approach can be used to assess any plant tissue for its protopectin transformation potential, which determines the technological influence on its pectin potential. This approach is universal, i.e., applicable to both plant tissue and its derivatives.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara da Silva Anacleto ◽  
Marcella Matos Cordeiro Borges ◽  
Hanna Leijoto de Oliveira ◽  
Andressa Reis Vicente ◽  
Eduardo Costa de Figueiredo ◽  
...  

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