Applications of Bacterial Cellulose in Food, Cosmetics and Drug Delivery

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a versatile biopolymer with better material properties, such as purity, high degree of porosity, relative high permeability to liquid and gases, high water-uptake capacity, tensile strength and ultrafine network. This review explores the applications of BC and its hydrogels in the fields of food, cosmetics and drug delivery. Applications of BC in foods are ranging from traditional dessert, low cholesterol diet, vegetarian meat, and as food additive and dietary aid to novel applications, such as immobilization of enzymes and cells. Applications in cosmetics include facial mask, facial scrub, personal cleansing formulations and contact lenses. BC for controlled drug delivery, transdermal drug delivery, dental drug delivery, protein delivery, tissue engineering drug delivery, macromolecular prodrug delivery and molecularly imprinted polymer based enantioselective drug delivery are also discussed in this review. The applications of BC in food and cosmetics provide the basis for BC-based functional foods, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals and medicated cosmetics. On the basis of current studies, the BC-based drug delivery could be further fine-tuned to get more sophisticated control on stimuli-responsive drug release. Along with the currently available literature, further experiments are required to obtain a blueprint of drug in vivo performance, bioavailability and in vitro–in vivo correlation.Peer reviewe

Mesoporous Biomaterials: a Lexicon and Structured Bibliography of Reviews

Non peer reviewe

Production of Pure Drug Nanocrystals and Nano Co-crystals by Confinement Methods

The use of drug nanocrystals in the drug formulation is increasing due to the large number of poorly water-soluble drug compounds synthetized and due to the advantages brought by the nanonization process. The downsizing processes are done using a top-down approach (milling and homogenization currently employed at the industrial level), while the crystallization process is performed by bottom-up techniques (e.g., antisolvent precipitation to the use of supercritical fluids or spray and freeze drying). In addition, the production of nanocrystals in confined environment can be achieved within microfluidics channels. This review analyzes the processes for the preparation of nanocrystals and co-crystals, divided by top-down and bottom-up approaches, together with their combinations. The combination of both strategies merges the favorable features of each process and avoids the disadvantages of single processes. Overall, the applicability of drug nanocrystals is highlighted by the widespread research on the production processes at the engineering, pharmaceutical, and nanotechnology level.Peer reviewe

Tailoring Porous Silicon for Biomedical Applications : From Drug Delivery to Cancer Immunotherapy

In the past two decades, porous silicon (PSi) has attracted increasing attention for its potential biomedical applications. With its controllable geometry, tunable nanoporous structure, large pore volume/high specific surface area, and versatile surface chemistry, PSi shows significant advantages over conventional drug carriers. Here, an overview of recent progress in the use of PSi in drug delivery and cancer immunotherapy is presented. First, an overview of the fabrication of PSi with various geometric structures is provided, with particular focus on how the unique geometry of PSi facilitates its biomedical applications, especially for drug delivery. Second, surface chemistry and modification of PSi are discussed in relation to the strengthening of its performance in drug delivery and bioimaging. Emerging technologies for engineering PSi-based composites are then summarized. Emerging PSi advances in the context of cancer immunotherapy are also highlighted. Overall, very promising research results encourage further exploration of PSi for biomedical applications, particularly in drug delivery and cancer immunotherapy, and future translation of PSi into clinical applications.Peer reviewe

Development of a Novel Electrospun Nanofibrous Delivery System for Poorly Water-Soluble ß-Sitosterol

Electrospinning was used as a novel technique for fabricating polymeric nanofibers of a serum cholesterol lowering and poorly water-soluble plant sterol, β-sitosterol. Chitosan was used as a stabilizer/carrier polymer. The mean diameters of nanofibers ranged from 150 nm to 218 nm. β-sitosterol was in an amorphous form and homogeneously dispersed in the nanofibers. The β-sitosterol-loaded nanofibers were freely water-soluble and exhibited very short lag-time in releasing the plant sterol. The dissolution was associated with an immediate recrystallization of β-sitosterol in submicron level. In conclusion, electrospinning is a promising future technology for the formulation of poorly water-soluble plant sterols.Peer reviewe

Amine-modified hyaluronic acid-functionalized porous silicon nanoparticles for targeting breast cancer tumors

Peer reviewe

Systematic in vitro biocompatibility studies of multimodal cellulose nanocrystal and lignin nanoparticles

Natural biopolymer nanoparticles (NPs), including nanocrystalline cellulose (CNC) and lignin, have shown potential as scaffolds for targeted drug delivery systems due to their wide availability, cost‐efficient preparation, and anticipated biocompatibility. Since both CNC and lignin can potentially cause complications in cell viability assays due to their ability to scatter the emitted light and absorb the assay reagents, we investigated the response of bioluminescent (CellTiter‐Glo®), colorimetric (MTT® and AlamarBlue®) and fluorometric (LIVE/DEAD®) assays for the determination of the biocompatibility of the multimodal CNC and lignin constructs in murine RAW 264.7 macrophages and 4T1 breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. Here, we have developed multimodal CNC and lignin NPs harboring the radiometal chelator DOTA (1,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane‐1,4,7,10‐tetraacetic acid) and the fluorescent dye Cyanine 5 for the investigation of nanomaterial biodistribution in vivo with nuclear and optical imaging, which were then used as the model CNC and lignin nanosystems in the cell viability assay comparison. CellTiter‐Glo® based on the detection of ATP‐dependent luminescence in viable cells revealed to be the best assay for both nanoconstructs for its robust linear response to increasing NP concentration and lack of interference from either of the NP types. Both multimodal CNC and lignin NPs displayed low cytotoxicity and favorable interactions with the cell lines, suggesting that they are good candidates for nanosystem development for targeted drug delivery in breast cancer and for theranostic applications. Our results provide useful guidance for cell viability assay compatibility for CNC and lignin NPs and facilitate the future translation of the materials for in vivo applications.Peer reviewe

In vivo dual-delivery of glucagon like peptide -1 (GLP-1) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitor through composites prepared by microfluidics for diabetes therapy

Oral delivery of proteins is still a challenge in the pharmaceutical field. Nanoparticles are among the most promising carrier systems for the oral delivery of proteins by increasing their oral bioavailability. However, most of the existent data regarding nanosystems for oral protein delivery is from in vitro studies, lacking in vivo experiments to evaluate the efficacy of these systems. Herein, a multifunctional composite system, tailored by droplet microfluidics, was used for dual delivery of glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (iDPP4) in vivo. Oral delivery of GLP-1 with nano- or micro-systems has been studied before, but the simultaneous nanodelivery of GLP-1 with iDPP4 is a novel strategy presented here. The type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rat model, induced through the combined administration of streptozotocin and nicotinamide, a non-obese model of T2DM, was used. The combination of both drugs resulted in an increase in the hypoglycemic effects in a sustained, but prolonged manner, where the iDPP4 improved the therapeutic efficacy of GLP-1. Four hours after the oral administration of the system, blood glucose levels were decreased by 44%, and were constant for another 4 h, representing half of the glucose area under the curve when compared to the control. An enhancement of the plasmatic insulin levels was also observed 6 h after the oral administration of the dual-drug composite system and, although no statistically significant differences existed, the amount of pancreatic insulin was also higher. These are promising results for the oral delivery of GLP-1 to be pursued further in a chronic diabetic model study.Peer reviewe

Correction Self-Healing and Injectable Hydrogel for Matching Skin Flap Regeneration

Several images in Figure 3, Figure 4, and Figure S7, Supporting Information, accidentally presented duplicate samples in the original article. The correct figures are presented below. The authors apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.Peer reviewe