Microbial surfactants: fundamentals and applicability in the formulation of nano-sized drug delivery vectors

Microbial surfactants, so-called biosurfactants, comprise a wide variety of structurally distinct amphipathic molecules produced by several microorganisms. Besides exhibiting surface activity at the interfaces, these molecules present powerful characteristics including high biodegradability, low toxicity and special biological activities (e.g. antimicrobial, antiviral, anticancer, among others), that make them an alternative to their chemical counterparts. Several medical-related applications have been suggested for these molecules, including some reports on their potential use in the formulation of nano-sized drug delivery vectors. However, despite their promises, due to the generalized lack of knowledge on microbial surfactants phase behavior and stability under diverse physicochemical conditions, these applications remain largely unexplored, thus representing an exciting field of research. These nano-sized vectors are a powerful approach towards the current medical challenges regarding the development of efficient and targeted treatments for several diseases. In this review, a special emphasis will be given to nanoparticles and microemulsions. Nanoparticles are very auspicious as their size, shape and stability can be manipulated by changing the environmental conditions. On the other hand, the easiness of formulation, as well as the broad possibilities of administration justifies the recent popularity of the microemulsions. Notwithstanding, both vector types still require further developments to overcome some critical limitations related with toxicity and costs, among others. Such developments may include the search for other system components, as the microbial surfactants, that can display improved features.The author acknowledges the financial support from the Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and project ref. RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (project number FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia

Synthesis of shape controlled ferrite nanoparticles by sonochemical technique

Synthesis of magnetic iron oxides/ferrites in the nano scale by sonochemical synthesis has become prominent recently. This technique facilitates the synthesis of magnetic particles in the nano scale attributed to the hotspot mechanism arising due to acoustic cavitation induced chemical reaction. Generally volatile organometallic precursor compounds favoring the formation of fully amorphous particles have been used to synthesize various nano magnetic materials. We report here the synthesis of ultrafine, <10 nm magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles by sonochemical technique starting with a non-volatile precursor iron salt such as iron citrate which seems to favoring the formation of semi crystalline/crystalline particles as the reaction takes place either in the interfacial region or in the bulk solution. Mono dispersed, ultra fine, similar to 4 nm spherical shaped magnetic maghemite particles having a saturation magnetization of 58.2 emu/g and coercivity of 118 Oe were obtained at low values of pH, 10 while higher pH, 11-13 favored the formation of elongated, cylindrical, acicular particles with a reduced magnetization. The coercivity was also found to decrease with increasing pH, with it being 118 Oe at pH 10 and 3 Oe at pH 13. When the ultrasound amplitude/intensity was low, 38% heat treatment of the samples at 300 C (at pH 10) was required to make them crystalline, while application of high intensity ultrasound, 50% amplitude served as a single step mechanism for obtaining crystalline maghemite particles. The maghemite particles obtained at a pH of 10 could find applications in information storage media

Sonochemical stabilization of ultrafine colloidal biocompatible magnetite nanoparticles using amino acid, L-arginine, for possible bio applications

Materials obtained by the synergistic combination of nanotechnology and biomedicine are an important source of drug delivery and other health care related applications The anchoring of amino acids onto the surface of nano-sized magnetite is one such example. Herein, we report on the binding of a semi-essential amino acid, L-arginine, onto the surface of nano magnetite, creating a stable aqueous suspension by an in situ one-step method using sonochemical synthesis An ex situ two-step process was also attempted, but was soon discarded owing to the relative short duration of the suspension attributed to increase in particle size and lower extent of binding The initial concentration of the amino acid was found to play an important role in controlling the particle size and also the binding motif Lower concentrations of arginine were found to favor the formation of elongated tubular structures, while at higher concentrations, the elongated structures were less prominent and arginine was found to be adsorbed onto the surface of the magnetite This surface-functionalized nanomagnetite with amino acids could become a promising vehicle for drug delivery. (C) 200

Long-Term Stability and Reproducibility of Magnetic Colloids Are Key Issues for Steady Values of Specific Power Absorption over Time

Virtually all clinical applications of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) require the formulation of biocompatible, water-based magnetic colloids. For magnetic hyperthermia, the requirements also include a high colloidal stability against precipitation and agglomeration of the constituent MNPs, in order to keep the heating efficiency of the ferrofluid in the long term. The specific power absorption (SPA) of single-domain MNPs depends critically on the average particle size and size distribution width, therefore first-rate reproducibility among different batches regarding these parameters are also needed. We have studied the evolution of the SPA of highly reproducible and stable water-based colloid composed of polymer coated $Fe_{3}O_{4}$ magnetic nanoparticles. By measuring the specific power absorption (SPA) values along one year as a function of field amplitude and frequencies ($H \leq 24 kA/m$; $260 \leq f \leq 830 kHz$), we demonstrated that SPA in these samples can be made reproducible between successive synthesis, and stable along several months, due to the in situ polymer coating that provides colloidal stability and keeps dipolar interactions negligible.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure