Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Chitosan and 5-Amino Salicylic Acid Combinations in Experimental Colitis

Chitosan is used in various drug delivery approaches as a pharmaceutical excipient. Although its potential as an immunomodulatory agent has been reported, its use in this capacity has not been fully explored. The efficacy of chitosan as an active pharmacological agent, particularly in anti-inflammatory therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), was investigated in this study. The potential impact of the molecular weight (MW) and degree of deacetylation (DD) of chitosan was investigated together with 5-amino salicylic acid (5-ASA) for its efficacy in a combination anti-inflammatory therapy in murine experimental colitis. Such a combination would potentially be developed into novel dual strategies whereby chitosan acts as a mucoadhesive excipient as well as provide an additional anti-inflammatory benefit. Chitosan grades with different MW and DD were administered intrarectally alone or in combination with 5-ASA to colitis mice for 3 days. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) levels were assessed from the colon. Intrarectal treatment of colitis with 30 mg/kg chitosan alone and with 30 mg/kg 5-ASA for 3 days led to a significant decrease in MPO, ALP, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β and NF-κB in colitis mice compared to untreated mice. Surprisingly, the efficacy of chitosan as an anti-inflammatory polymer was relatively independent from its structural properties, namely DD and MW. However, combinations of chitosan with 5-ASA showed a significant pharmacological improvement, whereby the additive anti-inflammatory efficacy observed shows the possibility of finetuning chitosan by combining it with anti-inflammatory agents to optimize its anti-inflammatory potential

Comparative Study of the Determination of Parabens in Shampoos by Liquid Chromatography with Amperometric and Coulometric Detection

The simultaneous determination of four para-hydroxybenzoic acid esters (parabens) in shampoos was studied by liquid chromatography (LC) with amperometric (LC-AD) and coulometric (LC-CD) detection. The parabens were separated on an ODS C18 reversed column by isocratic elution with a mobile phase based on methanol-0.1M acetic acid (60:40%, v/v) with 0.02M NaClO4 at a flow rate of 0.8 mL min-1. The limit of detection (S/N>3) for the analytes was in the 15 -25 pg (injected mass) range at an applied potential of 1.20 V vs. Ag/AgCl using the LC-AD and in the 2 -3 pg range at a potential of 0.790 V vs. Pd using the LC-CD. The peak ratio of the internal standard peak (IS: 4-hydroxybenzoic acid secbutyl ester) versus the analyte peak was found to be related to the amount injected from 0.1 ng to 100ng (r=0.996 -0.999) with the LC-AD and from 0.050 ng to 100 ng range (r=0.999 -1.000) with the LC-CD. The relative standard deviation (RSD, n=10) was comprised between 1.8 to 3.5% by LC-AD (5 ng injected) and between 2.0 to 2.4% by LC-CD (0.5 ng injected). The determination of four most used parabens in ten different shampoos was successfully realized. © 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH&Co. KGaA, Weinheim.SCOPUS: ar.jFLWINinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe