Physicochemical and in vitro cytotoxicity studies of inclusion complex between gemcitabine and cucurbit[7]uril host

Supramolecular Chemotherapy with Cucurbit[n]urils as Encapsulating Hosts

The cucurbit[n]urils (CB[n]) belong to the field of relatively young supramolecules which act as containers for a large variety of guests and are being explored extensively for their numerous biomedical applications. This includes drug formulation and delivery, controlled drug release, photodynamic therapy, sensing for bioanalytical purposes, etc. These supramolecular host-guest systems have distinctive recognition properties and have successfully been shown to enhance the in vitro and in vivo utility of various chemotherapeutic agents. The CB[n]s are tailored to optimize their application in payload delivery and diagnostics and in lowering the toxicity of existing drugs. This review has listed the recent studies on working mechanisms and host-guest complexation of the biologically vital molecules with CB[n] and highlighted their implementation in anticancer therapeutics. Various modifications in CB-drug inclusion compounds like CB supramolecular nanoarchitectures along with application in photodynamic therapy, which has shown potential as targeted drug delivery vehicles in cancer chemotherapy, have also been discussed.

NMR diffusometry: A new perspective for nanomedicine exploration

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) based diffusion methods open new perspectives for nanomedicine characterization and their bioenvironment interaction understanding. This review summarizes the theoretical background of diffusion phenomena. Self-diffusion and mutual diffusion coefficient notions are featured. Principles, advantages, drawbacks, and key challenges of NMR diffusometry spectroscopic and imaging methods are presented. This review article also gives an overview of representative applicative works to the nanomedicine field that can contribute to elucidate important issues. Examples of in vitro characterizations such as identification of formulated species, process monitoring, drug release follow-up, nanomedicine interactions with biological barriers are presented as well as possible transpositions for studying in vivo nanomedicine fate.