Biosurfactants and Their Biodegradability: A Review and Examination

Surfactants are extensively employed in industrial, agricultural, and food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals applications. Chemically produced surfactants cause environmental and toxicological hazards. Recently, considerable research has led to environmentally friendly procedures for the synthesis of several forms of biosurfactants from microorganisms. In comparison to chemical surfactants, biosurfactants have several advantages, such as biodegradability, low toxicity and ease of availability of raw materials. This paper offers an in-depth review of the types of surfactants, the need for bio-surfactants, their types and advantages, especially biodegradability. It also examines the biodegradability of selected four surfactants and finds that the biosurfactant is more easily biodegradable than the chemical surfactants.

Injectable Hydrogel as a Unique Platform for Antitumor Therapy Targeting Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment

Cancer immunotherapy can boost the immune response of patients to eliminate tumor cells and suppress tumor metastasis and recurrence. However, immunotherapy resistance and the occurrence of severe immune-related adverse effects are clinical challenges that remain to be addressed. The tumor microenvironment plays a crucial role in the therapeutic efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. Injectable hydrogels have emerged as powerful drug delivery platforms offering good biocompatibility and biodegradability, minimal invasion, convenient synthesis, versatility, high drug-loading capacity, controlled drug release, and low toxicity. In this review, we summarize the application of injectable hydrogels as a unique platform for targeting the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

Transdermal Nutraceuticals Delivery System for CNS Disease

Herbal medicines are being used by humans since the oldest civilizations and have been an integral part of traditional and alternative medicines. In recent times, pharmaceutical and biomedical scientists are taking interest in developing nutraceutical-based medicines to overcome the side effects and adverse drug reactions caused by allopathic medicines. Nutraceuticals have started occupying the global market. Nutraceuticals have gained widespread acceptance due to their efficacy in treating difficult to treat diseases, low toxicity, low cost, easy accessibility, etc. Safety and efficacy are other important factors in the commercialization process of nutraceuticals. Different novel advanced drug delivery systems have been constantly studied to improve the efficacy and bioavailability of medicines obtained from herbal sources. The transdermal drug delivery system provides a potent alternative to the conventional method of using nutraceuticals. The development of transdermal system-based nutraceuticals could provide the advantage of enhanced bioavailability, improved solubility, bypass the first-pass metabolism, and targeted delivery of drugs in brain-related disorders. It additionally provides the advantage of being non-invasive. This article reviews the potential effects of various nutraceuticals, in brain-related disorders as well as trends in transdermal nano-systems to deliver such nutraceuticals. We would also focus on advantages, application as well as recent United States-based patents which emphasized emerging interest towards transdermal nutraceuticals in brain disorders.

Potential Role of Exosomes in Ischemic Stroke Treatment

Ischemic stroke is a life-threatening cerebral vascular disease and accounts for high disability and mortality worldwide. Currently, no efficient therapeutic strategies are available for promoting neurological recovery in clinical practice, except rehabilitation. The majority of neuroprotective drugs showed positive impact in pre-clinical studies but failed in clinical trials. Therefore, there is an urgent demand for new promising therapeutic approaches for ischemic stroke treatment. Emerging evidence suggests that exosomes mediate communication between cells in both physiological and pathological conditions. Exosomes have received extensive attention for therapy following a stroke, because of their unique characteristics, such as the ability to cross the blood brain–barrier, low immunogenicity, and low toxicity. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated positively neurorestorative effects of exosome-based therapy, which are largely mediated by the microRNA cargo. Herein, we review the current knowledge of exosomes, the relationships between exosomes and stroke, and the therapeutic effects of exosome-based treatments in neurovascular remodeling processes after stroke. Exosomes provide a viable and prospective treatment strategy for ischemic stroke patients.

Synthesis of a Novel, Biocompatible and Bacteriostatic Borosiloxane Composition with Silver Oxide Nanoparticles

Microbial antibiotic resistance is an important global world health problem. Recently, an interest in nanoparticles (NPs) of silver oxides as compounds with antibacterial potential has significantly increased. From a practical point of view, composites of silver oxide NPs and biocompatible material are of interest. A borosiloxane (BS) can be used as one such material. A composite material combining BS and silver oxide NPs has been synthesized. Composites containing BS have adjustable viscoelastic properties. The silver oxide NPs synthesized by laser ablation have a size of ~65 nm (half-width 60 nm) and an elemental composition of Ag2O. The synthesized material exhibits strong bacteriostatic properties against E. coli at a concentration of nanoparticles of silver oxide more than 0.01%. The bacteriostatic effect depends on the silver oxide NPs concentration in the matrix. The BS/silver oxide NPs have no cytotoxic effect on a eukaryotic cell culture when the concentration of nanoparticles of silver oxide is less than 0.1%. The use of the resulting composite based on BS and silver oxide NPs as a reusable dry disinfectant is due to its low toxicity and bacteriostatic activity and its characteristics are not inferior to the medical alloy nitinol.

Compatibility of indigenous isolates HR1, HR2 of entomopathogenic nematodes, with low-toxicity insecticides for control of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Invasive species are a major danger to agronomic and natural ecosystems, and due to environmental concerns about pesticide use, EPNs have the potential to replace larvicidal action in pest management. The goal was to see how well local isolates of Steinernema feltiae (HR1) and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (HR2) controlled invasive species when combined with low-toxicity pesticides. HR1 + Spinosad, chlorantraniliprole produced over 90% mortality in larvae at 96 hours, while HR2 + Spinosad, chlorantraniliprole caused over 95% mortality at 96 hours. After treatment, the high dose was regarded the least hazardous technique for controlling fall armyworm. At the high dose, HR1 + Spinosad, chlorantraniliprole produced larvae death of over 100 percent at 96 hours, and HR2 + Spinosad, chlorantraniliprole caused mortality of over 97.50 percent at 96 hours, and should be considered as a least hazardous strategy for T. absoluta management. Controlling larvae mortality of above 100% at 96 hours in combination with low-toxicity insecticide dosages should be included as a least harmful technique to control T. absoluta. The results showed that these HR2 strains have high pathogenicity against T. absoluta and S. frugiperda and have potential for control in integrated approaches, causing 100 percent and 90.00 percent mortality of T. absoluta and S. frugiperda at 96 hours at the high dose as a least toxic strategy to control.

Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3-beta (GSK3β) blocks nucleocapsid phosphorylation and SARS-CoV-2 replication

GSK3β has been proposed to have an essential role in Coronaviridae infection. Screening of a targeted library of GSK3β inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E resulted in identification of high proportion of active compounds with low toxicity to host cells. A select lead compound, T-1686568, showed dose-dependent activity against SARS-CoV-2 transcription, translation and viral particle release in multiple cell lines and primary organoids. A protein kinase substrate profiling assay combined with western blot analysis showed that SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid is phosphorylated by GSK3β on S180/S184, S190/S194 and T198 which have already been primed in the adjacent phospho-sites S188, T198 and S206 respectively. Inhibition by T-1686568 resulted in reduction of the S1 Spike protein levels, an accumulation of the Nucleocapsid (N) protein and maintenance of the non-structural (NSP2) level in infected Huh-7.5.1 cells, indicating that N phosphorylation might serve as a critical precursor for processing and release of mature viruses.

Abplatin(IV) Inhibited Tumor Growth On A Patient Derived Cancer Model of Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Its Comparative Multi-Omics Study With Cisplatin

Background: Cisplatin is the most common antitumor alkylating agent of platinum(II) (Pt(II)) in clinic, however it had many side effects. It is necessary to develop low toxicity platinum(IV) (Pt(IV)) drugs. Multi-omics was frequently used to help one understand the mechanism of a certain therapy at the molecular level. Little was known about the mechanism of Pt(IV) drugs, which may be benifical for clinical translation. Methods: We developed a Pt(IV) drug of cisplatin with two hydrophobic aliphatic chains and further encapsulated it with a drug carrier human serum albumin (HSA) to prepare Abplatin(IV). Transcriptomics, metabolomics and lipidomics were performed to clarify the mechanism of Pt(IV) drugs. T-test assay and fold change were used to find the differential substances.Results: We had further shown Abplatin(IV) had better tumor-targeting performance and greater tumor inhibtion rate than cisplatin. Lipidomics study showed that Abplatin(IV) might induce the changes of BEL-7404 cell membrane, and caused the disorder of glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids. In addition, transcriptomics and metabolomics study showed that Abplatin(IV) mainly disturbed more significant purine metabolism pathway than cisplatin.Conclusions: This research highlighted the development of Abplatin(IV) and the use of multi-omics to help one understand the mechanism of action of prodrugs and their DDS, which was the key to the clinical translation of them.

Herbal Radioprotectors: A mini-review of the Current Status

Because of our increased dependency on the use of radiation in areas such as the food industry, agriculture, space exploration, diagnostics and treatment of various diseases including cancer, the possibilities of unnecessary exposure to ionizing radiation have considerably increased. Hence, there is a need to develop an effective radioprotective agent that can protect against the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation. So far, many synthetic and natural substances studied for use as radioprotectors have failed to reach clinics. Natural compounds are becoming more popular in radiation research due to their low toxicity, higher efficacy and cost-effectiveness. Plants and herbs contain a plethora of bioactive compounds having antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and immunostimulant properties which can act either in isolation or in combination to protect against the harmful effects of ionizing radiation This review mainly focuses on the radioprotective potential of various herbs and plants. The results obtained from various herbal extracts have shown protection against radiation-induced injuries in preclinical studies. This evaluation may help develop a potent radioprotector of desired efficacy.

Radical Scavenging Activity and Pharmacokinetic Properties of Coumarin–Hydroxybenzohydrazide Hybrids

Free radicals often interact with vital proteins, violating their structure and inhibiting their activity. In previous studies, synthesis, characterisation, and the antioxidative properties of the five different coumarin derivatives have been investigated. In the tests of potential toxicity, all compounds exhibited low toxicity with significant antioxidative potential at the same time. In this paper, the radical scavenging activity of the abovementioned coumarin derivatives towards ten different radical species was investigated. It was found that all investigated compounds show good radical scavenging ability, with results that are in correlation with the results published in the previous study. Three additional mechanisms of radical scavenging activity were investigated. It was found that all three mechanisms are thermodynamically plausible and in competition. Interestingly, it was found that products of the Double Hydrogen Atom Transfer (DHAT) mechanism, a biradical species in triplet spin state, are in some cases more stable than singlet spin state analogues. This unexpected trend can be explained by spin delocalisation over the hydrazide bridge and phenolic part of the molecule with a low probability of spin pairing. Besides radical-scavenging activity, the pharmacokinetic and drug-likeness of the coumarin hybrids were investigated. It was found that they exhibit good membrane and skin permeability and potential interactions with P-450 enzymes. Furthermore, it was found that investigated compounds satisfy all criteria of the drug-likeness tests, suggesting they possess a good preference for being used as potential drugs.