Carboxymethyl chitosan/ionic liquid imidazolium-based nanoparticles as nanocarriers for zinc phthalocyanine and its photodynamic activity

Recent Advances in Biocompatible Ionic Liquids in Drug Formulation and Delivery

The development of effective drug formulations and delivery systems for newly developed or marketed drug molecules remains a significant challenge. These drugs can exhibit polymorphic conversion, poor bioavailability, and systemic toxicity, and can be difficult to formulate with traditional organic solvents due to acute toxicity. Ionic liquids (ILs) are recognized as solvents that can improve the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of drugs. ILs can address the operational/functional challenges associated with traditional organic solvents. However, many ILs are non-biodegradable and inherently toxic, which is the most significant challenge in developing IL-based drug formulations and delivery systems. Biocompatible ILs comprising biocompatible cations and anions mainly derived from bio-renewable sources are considered a green alternative to both conventional ILs and organic/inorganic solvents. This review covers the technologies and strategies developed to design biocompatible ILs, focusing on the design of biocompatible IL-based drug formulations and delivery systems, and discusses the advantages of these ILs in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Furthermore, this review will provide guidance on transitioning to biocompatible ILs rather than commonly used toxic ILs and organic solvents in fields ranging from chemical synthesis to pharmaceutics.

Phototherapeutic anticancer strategies with first-row transition metal complexes: a critical review

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT) are therapeutic techniques based on a photosensitizer (PS) and light. These techniques allow the spatial and temporal control of the activation of drugs with light. Transition metal complexes are attractive compounds as photoactivatable prodrugs since their excited states can be appropriately designed by subtle modifications of the ligands, the metal centre, or the oxidation state. However, most metal-based PSs contain heavy metals such as Ru, Os, Ir, Pt or Au, which are expensive and non-earth-abundant, contrary to first-row transition metals. In this context, the exploration of the photochemical properties of complexes based on first-row transition metals appears to be extremely promising. This did encourage several groups to develop promising PSs based on these metals. This review presents up-to-date state-of-the-art information on first-row-transition metal complexes, from titanium to zinc in regard to their application as PSs for phototherapeutic applications.

Biocompatible Nanocarriers for Enhanced Cancer Photodynamic Therapy Applications

In recent years, the role of nanotechnology in drug delivery has become increasingly important, and this field of research holds many potential benefits for cancer treatment, particularly, in achieving cancer cell targeting and reducing the side effects of anticancer drugs. Biocompatible and biodegradable properties have been essential for using a novel material as a carrier molecule in drug delivery applications. Biocompatible nanocarriers are easy to synthesize, and their surface chemistry often enables them to load different types of photosensitizers (PS) to use targeted photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer treatment. This review article explores recent studies on the use of different biocompatible nanocarriers, their potential applications in PDT, including PS-loaded biocompatible nanocarriers, and the effective targeting therapy of PS-loaded biocompatible nanocarriers in PDT for cancer treatment. Furthermore, the review briefly recaps the global clinical trials of PDT and its applications in cancer treatment.

Design and Characterization of Maltoheptaose-b-Polystyrene Nanoparticles, as a Potential New Nanocarrier for Oral Delivery of Tamoxifen

Tamoxifen citrate (TMC), a non-steroidal antiestrogen drug used for the treatment of breast cancer, was loaded in a block copolymer of maltoheptaose-b-polystyrene (MH-b-PS) nanoparticles, a potential drug delivery system to optimize oral chemotherapy. The nanoparticles were obtained from self-assembly of MH-b-PS using the standard and reverse nanoprecipitation methods. The MH-b-PS@TMC nanoparticles were characterized by their physicochemical properties, morphology, drug loading and encapsulation efficiency, and release kinetic profile in simulated intestinal fluid (pH 7.4). Finally, their cytotoxicity towards the human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cell line was assessed. The standard nanoprecipitation method proved to be more efficient than reverse nanoprecipitation to produce nanoparticles with small size and narrow particle size distribution. Moreover, tamoxifen-loaded nanoparticles displayed spherical morphology, a positive zeta potential and high drug content (238.6 ± 6.8 µg mL-1) and encapsulation efficiency (80.9 ± 0.4 %). In vitro drug release kinetics showed a burst release at early time points, followed by a sustained release profile controlled by diffusion. MH-b-PS@TMC nanoparticles showed higher cytotoxicity towards MCF-7 cells than free tamoxifen citrate, confirming their effectiveness as a delivery system for administration of lipophilic anticancer drugs.

Zinc pthalocyanine loaded poly (lactic acid) nanoparticles by double emulsion methodology for photodynamic therapy against 9 L/LacZ gliosarcoma cells

Development delivery systems, such as nanoparticles, represent a growing area in biomedical research. Nanoparticles (NP) were prepared using a double-emulsion method to load zinc(II) phthalocyanine (ZnPc). NP were obtained using poly (lactic acid) (PLA). ZnPc is a second generation of photosensitizer used in photodynamic therapy (PDT). ZnPc loaded PLA nanoparticles (NPLA-ZnPc) were prepared by double-emulsion method, characterized and available in cellular culture. The mean nanoparticle size presented particle size was 384.7 ± 84.2 nm with polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.150 ± 0.015, and the encapsulation efficiency was of 83%. The nanoparticle formulations presented negative zeta potential values (-27.5 ± 1.0 mV), explaining their colloidal stability. ZnPc loaded nanoparticles maintain its photophysical behavior after encapsulation. Photosensitizer release from nanoparticles was sustained over 168 h with a biphasic ZnPc release profile. An in vitro phototoxic effect in range of 80% was observed in 9 L/LacZ gliosarcoma cells at laser light doses (10 J cm^-2) with 3.0 µg mL^-1 of NPLA-ZnPc. All the physical-chemical, photophysical and photobiological measurements performed allow us to conclude that ZnPc loaded PLGA nanoparticles is a promising drug delivery system for PDT.

Lipid-based nanoparticles for psoriasis treatment: a review on conventional treatments, recent works, and future prospects

Psoriasis is a lingering inflammatory skin disease that attacks the immune system. The abnormal interactions between T cells, immune cells, and inflammatory cytokines causing the epidermal thickening. International guidelines have recommended topical treatments for mild to moderate psoriasis whilst systemic and phototherapy treatments for moderate to severe psoriasis. However, current therapeutic approaches have a wider extent to treat moderate to severe type of psoriasis especially since the emergence of diverse biologic agents. In the meantime, topical delivery of conventional treatments has prompted many unsatisfactory effects to penetrate through the skin (stratum corneum). By understanding the physiology of stratum corneum barrier functions, scientists have developed different types of lipid-based nanoparticles like solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, nanovesicles, and nanoemulsions. These novel drug delivery systems help the poorly solubilised active pharmaceutical ingredient reaches the targeted site seamlessly because of the bioavailability feature of the nanosized molecules. Lipid-based nanoparticles for psoriasis treatments create a paradigm for topical drug delivery due to their lipids' amphiphilic feature to efficiently encapsulate both lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs. This review highlights different types of lipid-based nanoparticles and their recent works of nano formulated psoriasis treatments. The encapsulation of psoriasis drugs through lipid nanocarriers unfold numerous research opportunities in pharmaceutical applications but also draw challenges for the future development of nano drugs.

Destruction of Chitosan and Its Complexes with Cobalt(II) and Copper(II) Tetrasulphophthalocyanines

Chitosan is a naturally occurring polysaccharide derived from chitin with a wide range of uses. Phthalocyanines are macroheterocyclic compounds that have a number of useful properties such as coloring and catalytic and antioxidant activity. Phthalocyanines are able to immobilize on chitosan, forming complexes with new useful properties. In this work, we evaluated the ability of phthalocyanines to increase the thermal stability of chitosan. Chitosan (CS) forms complexes with copper(II)-(CuPc) and cobalt(II)-(CoPc) tetrasulphophthalocyanines. The processes of destruction of chitosan (CS) and its complexes with sulphophthalocyanines CuPc and CoPc in oxidizing and inert atmospheres have been studied. It was established that, regardless of the atmosphere composition, the first chemical reactions taking place in the studied systems are elimination reactions. The latter ones in the case of chitosan and complex CS-CuPc lead to the formation of spatially crosslinked polymer structures, and it causes the release of CuPc from the polymer complex. It was found that in the case of CS-CoPc elimination reactions did not lead to the formation of crosslinked polymer structures but caused the destruction of the pyranose rings with a partial release of CoPc. Metallophthalocyanines showed antioxidant properties in the composition of complexes with chitosan, increasing the temperature of the beginning of glycosidic bond cleavage reaction by 30–35 °C in comparison with the similar characteristics for chitosan.