A new concept in the treatment of extravasation injury: controlled drug delivery systems

WOS: 000282621800027PubMed ID: 20941833Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of the intralesionally injected controlled granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) releasing system in widening refractory extravasation wounds. Methods: The determination of in vitro GM-CSF release from chitosan gel was the first, and in vivo effect of the molecule was the second step of the study. Thirty-five Wistar-Albino rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: 1) control group (adriamycin group) (n=7); 2) adriamycin + normal saline group (n=7); 3) adriamycin + chitosan group (n=7); 4) adriamycin + 1 mu g/mL GM-CSF-loaded chitosan group (n=7); and 5) adriamycin + 10 mu g/mL GMCSF loaded chitosan group (n=7). The wound area was measured macroscopically and histological examination was carried out for wound healing and tissue response to the polymer Results: The best healing process was observed with the controlled released GM-CSF groups (groups 4 and 5). The 1 mu g/mL GM-CSF loaded group showed superior wound healing than that of 10 mu g/mL GM-CSF loaded gels. This result was correlated with the in vitro study which also showed increased drug release in the 1 mu g/mL GM-CSF loaded group than the 10 mu g/mL GM-CSF loaded gels. Conclusion: This study suggests that GM-CSF, applied with controlled drug delivery system, can supply dynamic treatment options with long-lasting activity in single-dose administration

Laboratory Analysis of Vitamin C in Vegetables Served in Eldercare Facilities and Evaluation of Related Public Nutrient Database Information

Vitamin C is an important nutrient, and its labile nature means that prepared vegetables containing sufficient amounts of vitamin C are likely to be rich in other important nutrients as well. Samples of prepared green beans and carrots were obtained from eldercare facilities and their vitamin C content was determined. The results indicated a lack of consistency in the Vitamin C content, and the value for many samples was less than expected. Vitamin C content was maximized through the use of steaming followed by hot-holding for less than 20 minutes. Suggestions for improving relevant public database information are provided

Biophysical Changes of Lipid Membranes in the Presence of Ethanol at Varying Concentrations

Ethanol is widely used as an additive to gasoline, and production of ethanol can come from single-celled organisms such as yeast. We systematically studied the influence of ethanol on common lipids found in yeast plasma membranes, specifically phosphatidyl­serine (PS), phosphatidyl­ethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidyl­choline (PC). Molecular dynamics simulations were used to probe changes to the biophysical properties of membranes with varying equilibrated bulk ethanol concentrations less than 25 mol %. The palmitoyl oleoyl (PO, 18:1/16:0) chain was used for all lipids, and a mixed bilayer of POPE/POPS (7:3 ratio) was also simulated. Ethanol was found to interact strongly with POPC, and thus its surface area per lipid, chain order, and electron density profiles differ the most from the neat bilayer. At 12 mol % ethanol in the bulk, ethanol penetrated into the hydrophobic core for all membranes studied, but POPC had the highest penetration. Although the anionic headgroup of POPS acted as a protectant for membrane structure compared to the zwitterionic lipids, this was not the case for the POPE/POPS mixture that showed more penetration of ethanol into the membrane than the single-component membranes. To fully characterize the impact of ethanol on yeast plasma membranes, our results suggest that experiments and simulations need to consider representative mixtures of lipids that exist <i>in vivo</i>