Ionically crosslinked alginate-based nanohydrogels for tumor-specific intracellular triggered release: Effect of chemical modification

Food gels: principles, interaction mechanisms and its microstructure

Food hydrogels are important materials having great scientific interest due to biocompatibility, safety and environment-friendly characteristics. In the food industry, hydrogels are widely used due to their three-dimensional crosslinked networks. Furthermore, they have attracted great attention due to their wide range of applications in the food industry, such as fat replacers, encapsulating agents, target delivery vehicles, and many more. In addition to basic and recent knowledge on food hydrogels, this review exclusively focuses on sensorial perceptions, nutritional significance, body interactions, network structures, mechanical properties, and potential hydrogel applications in food and food-based matrices. Additionally, this review highlights the structural design of hydrogels, which provide the forward-looking idea for future applications of food hydrogels (e.g., 3D or 4D printing).

Smart Stimuli-responsive Alginate Nanogels for Drug Delivery Systems and Cancer Therapy: A Review

Nanogels are three-dimensional networks at the nanoscale level that can be fabricated through physical or chemical processes using polymers. These nanoparticles' biocompatibility, notable stability, efficacious drug-loading capacity, and ligand-binding proficiency make them highly suitable for employment as drug-delivery vehicles. In addition, they exhibit the ability to react to both endogenous and exogenous stimuli, which may include factors such as temperature, illumination, pH levels, and a diverse range of other factors. This facilitates the consistent administration of the drug to the intended site. Alginate biopolymers have been utilized to encapsulate anticancer drugs due to their biocompatible nature, hydrophilic properties, and cost-effectiveness. The efficacy of alginate nano gel-based systems in cancer treatment has been demonstrated through multiple studies that endorse their progress toward clinical implementation. This paper comprehensively reviews alginate and its associated systems in drug delivery systems.

A Comprehensive Review of Food Hydrogels: Principles, Formation Mechanisms, Microstructure, and Its Applications

Food hydrogels are effective materials of great interest to scientists because they are safe and beneficial to the environment. Hydrogels are widely used in the food industry due to their three-dimensional crosslinked networks. They have also attracted a considerable amount of attention because they can be used in many different ways in the food industry, for example, as fat replacers, target delivery vehicles, encapsulating agents, etc. Gels-particularly proteins and polysaccharides-have attracted the attention of food scientists due to their excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, nutritional properties, and edibility. Thus, this review is focused on the nutritional importance, microstructure, mechanical characteristics, and food hydrogel applications of gels. This review also focuses on the structural configuration of hydrogels, which implies future potential applications in the food industry. The findings of this review confirm the application of different plant- and animal-based polysaccharide and protein sources as gelling agents. Gel network structure is improved by incorporating polysaccharides for encapsulation of bioactive compounds. Different hydrogel-based formulations are widely used for the encapsulation of bioactive compounds, food texture perception, risk monitoring, and food packaging applications.

Lanthanum-based metal organic framework (La-MOF) use of 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid as drug delivery system linkers in human breast cancer therapy

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have received a lot of attention in the research community due to their unique physical properties, which make them ideal materials for targeted drug delivery systems. In this paper, we describe the synthesis of a non-toxic La-based MOF with 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid (3,4-DHCA) as a linker. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurements, and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) have all been used to characterize it thoroughly. The La-based MOF showed good biocompatibility with the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-468. The ability of 3,4-DHCA to treat MDA-MB-468 cells was confirmed by 40.35% cell viability with La-based MOF. Based on the findings, La-based MOF can be recommended as a promising candidate for anticancer delivery.

Alginate-based nanocarriers for the delivery and controlled-release of bioactive compounds

Alginate-based nanocarriers are propitious vehicles used for the delivery of bioactive compounds (bioactives). In this area, calcium alginate and sodium alginate are the most promising wall materials because they are nontoxic, comparatively cheap, simple in production, biocompatible and biodegradable. In this review, we have highlighted different alginate-based nanocarriers such as nanoparticles, nanofibers, nanoemulsions, nanocomplexes, and nanohydrogels; also entrapment of different bioactives within alginate nanocarriers and their bioavailability in the gastric environment has been comprehensively discussed. Being biopolymers, alginates can be exploited as emulsifiers/ encapsulants for entrapment and delivery of different bioactives such as vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, peptides, essential oils, bioactive oils, polyphenols and carotenoids. Furthermore, the use of alginate-based nanocarriers in combination with other polysaccharides/ emulsifiers was recognized as the most effective and favorable approach for the protection, delivery and sustained release of bioactives.

Nanocarriers for anticancer drugs: challenges and perspectives

Cancer is the second most common cause of death globally, surpassed only by cardiovascular disease. One of the hallmarks of cancer is uncontrolled cell division and resistance to cell death. Multiple approaches have been developed to tackle this disease, including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy is used primarily to control cell division and induce cell death, some cancer cells are able to resist apoptosis and develop tolerance to these drugs. The side effects of chemotherapy are often overwhelming, and patients can experience more adverse effects than benefits. Furthermore, the bioavailability and stability of drugs used for chemotherapy are crucial issues that must be addressed, and there is therefore a high demand for a reliable delivery system that ensures fast and accurate targeting of treatment. In this review, we discuss the different types of nanocarriers, their properties and recent advances in formulations, with respect to relevant advantages and disadvantages of each.

A comprehensive review on alginate-based delivery systems for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agent: Doxorubicin

Doxorubicin (DOX), an anthracycline drug, is widely used for the treatment of several cancers like osteosarcoma, cervical carcinoma, breast cancer, etc. DOX lacks target specificity; thereby it also affects normal cells thus resulting in several side-effects. A drug delivery system (DDS) can be used to deliver the drug in a controlled and sustained manner at a targeted site within the body. Various DDS like nanoemulsions, polymeric nanoparticles, and liposomes are used for loading DOX. Alginate, a polysaccharide is widely used for fabricating DDS due to its biodegradable and bio-compatible properties. Alginates, in combination with other biomaterials, have been extensively used as a novel drug delivery carrier for DOX. Alginate provides a platform for drug delivery in different forms like hydrogels, nanogels, nanoparticles, microparticles, graphene oxide systems, magnetic systems, etc. Herein, we briefly describe alginate in combination with other materials as a nanocarrier for targeted delivery of DOX for anti-cancer treatment.

Development of a pH-sensitive functionalized metal organic framework: in vitro study for simultaneous delivery of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide in breast cancer

Exploration of an efficient dual-drug based nanocarrier with high drug loading capacity, specific targeting properties, and long-term stability is highly desirable in cancer therapy. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have proven to be a promising class of drug carriers due to their high porosity, crystalline properties with defined structure information, and their potential for further functionalization. To enhance the drug efficacy as well as to overcome the burst effect of drugs, here we synthesized a pH responsive folic acid (FA) and graphene oxide (GO) decorated zeolitical imidazolate frameworks-8 (GO–FA/ZIF-8), for targeted delivery of doxorubicin (DOX) and cyclophosphamide (CP), simultaneously. In this system, DOX molecules were encapsulated in the pores of ZIF-8 during in situ synthesis of ZIF-8 and CP molecules have been captured by the GO surface via hydrogen bonding and π–π interactions as well. Furthermore, the resulting pH-responsive nanocarrier (DOX@ZIF-8/GO–FA/CP) showed in vitro sustained release characteristics (76% of DOX and 80% of CP) by cleavage of chemical bonding and disruption of the MOFs structure under acidic condition (at pH 5.6). Moreover, DOX@ZIF-8/GO–FA/CP has synergistic cytotoxic effects as compared to the combination of both the drugs without ZIF-8/GO–FA when treating MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines (with a combination index of 0.29 and 0.75 for MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell-lines, respectively). Hence this system can be applied as an effective platform for smart dual drug delivery in breast cancer treatment through its remarkable manageable multidrug release.

Exploration of an efficient dual-drug based nanocarrier with high drug loading capacity, specific targeting properties, and long-term stability is highly desirable in cancer therapy.

Alginate-Based Platforms for Cancer-Targeted Drug Delivery

As an acidic, ocean colloid polysaccharide, alginate is both a biopolymer and a polyelectrolyte that is considered to be biocompatible, nontoxic, nonimmunogenic, and biodegradable. A significant number of studies have confirmed the potential use of alginate-based platforms as effective vehicles for drug delivery for cancer-targeted treatment. In this review, the focus is on the formation of alginate-based cancer-targeted delivery systems. Specifically, some general chemical and physical properties of alginate and different types of alginate-based delivery systems are discussed, and various kinds of alginate-based carriers are introduced. Finally, recent innovative strategies to functionalize alginate-based vehicles for cancer targeting are described to highlight research towards the optimization of alginate.

Drug nanodelivery systems based on natural polysaccharides against different diseases

Drug nanodelivery systems (DNDSs) are fascinated cargos to achieve outstanding therapeutic results of various drugs or natural bioactive compounds owing to their unique structures. The efficiency of several pharmaceutical drugs or natural bioactive ingredients is restricted because of their week bioavailability, poor bioaccessibility and pharmacokinetics after orally pathways. In order to handle such constraints, usage of native/natural polysaccharides (NPLS) in fabrication of DNDSs has gained more popularity in the arena of nanotechnology for controlled drug delivery to enhance safety, biocompatibility, better retention time, bioavailability, lower toxicity and enhanced permeability. The main commonly used NPLS in nanoencapsulation systems include chitosan, pectin, alginates, cellulose, starches, and gums recognized as potential materials for fabrication of cargos. Herein, this review is centered on different polysaccharide-based nanocarriers including nanoemulsions, nanohydrogels, nanoliposomes, nanoparticles and nanofibers, which have already served as encouraging candidates for entrapment of therapeutic drugs as well as for their sustained controlled release. Furthermore, the current article explicitly offers comprehensive details regarding application of NPLS-based nanocarriers encapsulating several drugs intended for the handling of numerous disorders, including diabetes, cancer, HIV, malaria, cardiovascular and respiratory as well as skin diseases.