Effects of radiofrequency exposure on in vitro blood-brain barrier permeability in the presence of magnetic nanoparticles

Nanoparticles Mediated the Diagnosis and Therapy of Glioblastoma: Bypass or Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier

Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive central nervous system malignancies with high morbidity and mortality. Current clinical approaches, including surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, are limited by the difficulty of targeting brain lesions accurately, leading to disease recurrence and fatal outcomes. The lack of effective treatments has prompted researchers to continuously explore novel therapeutic strategies. In recent years, nanomedicine has made remarkable progress and expanded its application in brain drug delivery, providing a new treatment for brain tumors. Against this background, this article reviews the application and progress of nanomedicine delivery systems in brain tumors. In this paper, the mechanism of nanomaterials crossing the blood-brain barrier is summarized. Furthermore, the specific application of nanotechnology in glioblastoma is discussed in depth.

Fabrication of curcumin-loaded magnetic PEGylated-PLGA nanocarriers tagged with GRGDS peptide for improving anticancer activity

Carrier-mediated drug delivery systems are highly promising as a treatment option for the targeted delivery of potent cytotoxic drugs with increased efficacy and safety. Considering that poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers each provide certain advantages for biological purposes, PEGylated-PLGA nanoparticles have emerged as a leading candidate among other alternatives. Furthermore, these nanoparticles can be modified with the specific short peptide sequences such as glycine-arginine-glycine-aspartic acid‑serine (GRGDS), which selectively binds to integrins overexpressed in most cancer cells, allowing for targeted delivery. Here, we reported the details in fabrication and characterization of magnetic PEGylated-PLGA nanoparticles functionalized with GRGDS peptide. In addition, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and the natural pharmaceutical compound curcumin (Cur) were loaded into these polymeric nanoparticles to assess their anticancer activity potential. Overall, this study provides comprehensive methodologies, including all synthesis procedures, challenges, and useful suggestions for peptide-conjugated polymeric nanoparticles that may be used for cellular targeting and therapeutic applications.•Step by step fabrication protocol for the Cur loaded magnetic PEGylated-PLGA nanoparticles was presented.•Validation of the fabrication and the GRGDS conjugation to the nanoparticles were shown via detailed characterization studies.•The cytotoxic effect of the Cur-loaded and GRGDS-tagged magnetic nanoparticles was tested on T98G glioblastoma cell line as a preliminary in vitro study.

Passing of Nanocarriers across the Histohematic Barriers: Current Approaches for Tumor Theranostics

Over the past several decades, nanocarriers have demonstrated diagnostic and therapeutic (i.e., theranostic) potencies in translational oncology, and some agents have been further translated into clinical trials. However, the practical application of nanoparticle-based medicine in living organisms is limited by physiological barriers (blood-tissue barriers), which significantly hampers the transport of nanoparticles from the blood into the tumor tissue. This review focuses on several approaches that facilitate the translocation of nanoparticles across blood-tissue barriers (BTBs) to efficiently accumulate in the tumor. To overcome the challenge of BTBs, several methods have been proposed, including the functionalization of particle surfaces with cell-penetrating peptides (e.g., TAT, SynB1, penetratin, R8, RGD, angiopep-2), which increases the passing of particles across tissue barriers. Another promising strategy could be based either on the application of various chemical agents (e.g., efflux pump inhibitors, disruptors of tight junctions, etc.) or physical methods (e.g., magnetic field, electroporation, photoacoustic cavitation, etc.), which have been shown to further increase the permeability of barriers.

Controllable blood–brain barrier (BBB) regulation based on gigahertz acoustic streaming

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a structural and functional barrier necessary for brain homeostasis, and it plays an important role in the realization of neural function and in protecting the brain from damage by circulating toxins and pathogens. However, the extremely dense BBB also severely limits the transport of molecules across it, which is a great hindrance to the diagnosis and treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. This paper reports a new method for controllable opening of the BBB, based on the gigahertz acoustic streaming (AS) generated by a bulk acoustic wave resonant device. By adjusting the input power and working distance of the device, AS with tunable flow rate can be generated to disrupt tight junction proteins (TJs) between endothelial cells. The results obtained with this method show that the gigahertz AS promotes the penetration of dextran molecules with different molecular weights across the BBB. This work provides a new platform for studying the mechanical regulation of BBB by fluid shear forces and a new method for improving the efficiency of drug delivery.