2D versus 3D human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cultures for neurodegenerative disease modelling

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), affect millions of people every year and so far, there are no therapeutic cures available. Even though animal and histological models have been of great aid in understanding disease mechanisms and identifying possible therapeutic strategies, in order to find disease-modifying solutions there is still a critical need for systems that can provide more predictive and physiologically relevant results. One possible avenue is the development of patient-derived models, e.g. by reprogramming patient somatic cells into human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), which can then be differentiated into any cell type for modelling. These systems contain key genetic information from the donors, and therefore have enormous potential as tools in the investigation of pathological mechanisms underlying disease phenotype, and progression, as well as in drug testing platforms. hiPSCs have been widely cultured in 2D systems, but in order to mimic human brain complexity, 3D models have been proposed as a more advanced alternative. This review will focus on the use of patient-derived hiPSCs to model AD, PD, HD and ALS. In brief, we will cover the available stem cells, types of 2D and 3D culture systems, existing models for neurodegenerative diseases, obstacles to model these diseases in vitro, and current perspectives in the field

Activation of polymeric nanoparticle intracellular targeting overcomes chemodrug resistance in human primary patient breast cancer cells

Amoura M Abou-El-Naga,1 Ghada Mutawa,2 Ibrahim M El-Sherbiny,3 Shaker A Mousa4 1Zoology Department, Faculty of Sciences, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt; 2Department of Basic Science, Faculty of Dentistry, Horus University in Egypt (HUE), New Damietta 34517, Egypt; 3Center for Materials Science, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Cairo 12588, Egypt; 4The Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Rensselaer, NY 12144, USA Background: Successfully overcoming obstacles due to anticancer drugs’ toxicity and achieving effective treatment using unique nanotechnology is challenging. The complex nature of breast tumors is mainly due to chemoresistance. Successful docetaxel (DTX) delivery by nanoparticles (NPs) through inhibition of multidrug resistance (MDR) can be a bridge to enhance intracellular dose and achieve higher cytotoxicity for cancer cells. Purpose: This study tested primary patient breast cancer cells in vitro with traditional free DTX in comparison with polymeric nanocarriers based on poly lactic co-glycolic acid (PLGA) NPs. Materials and methods: Establishment of primary cell line from breast malignant tumor depends on enzymatic digestion. Designed DTX-loaded PLGA NPs were prepared with a solvent evaporation method; one design was supported by the use of folic acid (FA) conjugated to PLGA. The physical properties of NPs were characterized as size, charge potential, surface morphology, DTX loading, and encapsulation efficiency. In vitro cellular uptake of fluorescent NPs was examined visually with confocal fluorescence microscopy and quantitatively with flow cytometry. In vitro cytotoxicity of all DTX designed NPs against cancer cells was investigated with MTT assay. RT-PCR measurements were done to examine the expression of chemoresistant and apoptotic genes of the tested DTX NPs. Results: Cellular uptake of DTX was time dependent and reached the maximum after loading on PLGA NPs and with FA incorporation, which activated the endocytosis mechanism. MTT assay revealed significant higher cytotoxicity of DTX-loaded FA/PLGA NPs with higher reduction of IC50 (8.29 nM). In addition, PLGA NPs, especially FA incorporated, limited DTX efflux by reducing expression of ABCG2 (3.2-fold) and MDR1 (2.86-fold), which were highly activated by free DTX. DTX-loaded FA/PLGA NPs showed the highest apoptotic effect through the activation of Caspase-9, Caspase-3, and TP53 genes by 2.8-, 1.6-, and 1.86-fold, respectively. Conclusion: FA/PLGA NPs could be a hopeful drug delivery system for DTX in breast cancer treatment. Keywords: PLGA NPs, chemoresistance, endocytosis, drug delivery system, active targeting, human breast cancer, DTX loaded PLGA NP

Microemulsion liquid chromatographic method for characterisation of fosinopril sodium and fosinoprilat separation with chemometrical support

The properties of the eluent are the essential factors governing the efficiency in the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. A novel approach in retention modelling in the liquid chromatographic separation of fosinopril sodium and its degradation product, fosinoprilat, applying a microemulsion as the mobile phase, was used. The modifications of the mobile phase included the changes to the type of the lipophilic phase, the type and concentration of co-surfactant and surfactant, as well as the pH of the mobile phase. In this study, a full factorial 2(3) design, as the optimal method for screening of the experiment, was applied for selecting factors which had an influence on separation. Optimisation was done by a central composite design. An appropriate resolution with reasonable retention times was obtained with a microemulsion containing 0.9% w/w of cyclohexane, 2.2% w/w of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), 8.0% w/w of n-butanol and 88.9% of aqueous 25 mM disodium phosphate, the pH of which was adjusted to 2.8 with 85% orthophosphoric acid. Separations were performed on an X-Terra 50-mmx4.6-mm, 3.5- mu m particle size column at 30 degrees C. UV detection was performed at 220 nm and with a flow rate of 0.3 mL min(-1). The established method was validated and applied for analysis of appropriate tablets. The proposed chromatographic procedure for the separation of fosinopril sodium and its degradation product is less expensive compared with the conventional reversed-phase HPLC method, as well as being simple and rapid. The optimised and validated method can be used for separation, identification and simultaneous determination of fosinopfil sodium and fosinoprilat in bulk drug and in pharmaceutical dose forms