Dendrimers as anti-inflammatory agents

Dendrimers constitute an intriguing class of macromolecules which find applications in a variety of areas including biology. These hyperbranched macromolecules with tailored backbone and surface groups have been extensively investigated as nanocarriers for gene and drug delivery, by molecular encapsulation or covalent conjugation. Dendrimers have provided an excellent platform to develop multivalent and multifunctional nanoconjugates incorporating a variety of functional groups including drugs which are known to be anti-inflammatory agents. Recently, dendrimers have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory properties themselves. This unexpected and intriguing discovery has provided an additional impetus in designing novel active pharmaceutical agents. In this review, we highlight some of the recent developments in the field of dendrimers as nanoscale anti-inflammatory agents

Hyaluronan based materials with catanionic sugar-derived surfactants as drug delivery systems

International audienc

In-plane miscibility and mixed bilayer microstructure in mixtures of catanionic glycolipids and zwitterionic phospholipids

AbstractSAXS/WAXS studies were performed in combination with freeze fracture electron microscopy using mixtures of a new Gemini catanionic surfactant (Gem16-12, formed by two sugar groups bound by a hydrocarbon spacer with 12 carbons and two 16-carbon chains) and the zwitterionic phospholipid 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) to establish the phase diagram. Gem16-12 in water forms bilayers with the same amount of hydration water as DPPC. A frozen interdigitated phase with a low hydration number is observed below room temperature. The kinetics of the formation of this crystalline phase is very slow. Above the chain melting temperature, multilayered vesicles are formed. Mixing with DPPC produces mixed bilayers above the corresponding chain melting temperature. At room temperature, partially lamellar aggregates with local nematic order are observed. Splitting of infinite lamellae into discs is linked to immiscibility in frozen state. The ordering process is always accompanied by dehydration of the system. As a consequence, an unusual order–disorder phase transition upon cooling is observed

Hyaluronan based hydrogels as drug delivery systems for cataionic sugar-derived surfactants

Trabajo presentado en la 26th Conference of the European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS 2012), celebrada en Malmö (Suecia) entre el 2 y el 7 de septiembre de 2012

Use of a fluorescent aminodeoxylactitol to measure the stability of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers by spectrofluorimetry

International audienceThe dissociation constants (KD) of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers have been evaluated spectroscopically by means of fluorescent analogs of the aminolactitol which is involved in the stoichiometric ion pairing systems comprising PolyPhosphorHydrazone (PPH) dendrimers with various types of organic acid surface functions. This study elucidates the origin of the low therapeutic index of these anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers which were previously reported to exhibit in vitro anti-HIV activity in the sub-micromolar range