Going deep inside bioactive-loaded nanocarriers through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy

Curcumin-loaded polymeric nanomaterials as a novel therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease: A comprehensive review

Alzheimer's disease (AD) stands as a formidable challenge in modern medicine, characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, cognitive decline, and memory impairment. Despite extensive research, effective therapeutic strategies remain elusive. The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties of curcumin, found in turmeric, have demonstrated promise. The poor bioavailability and rapid systemic clearance of this drug limit its clinical application. This comprehensive review explores the potential of curcumin-loaded polymeric nanomaterials as an innovative therapeutic avenue for AD. It delves into the preparation and characteristics of diverse polymeric nanomaterial platforms, including liposomes, micelles, dendrimers, and polymeric nanoparticles. Emphasis is placed on how these platforms enhance curcumin's bioavailability and enable targeted delivery to the brain, addressing critical challenges in AD treatment. Mechanistic insights reveal how these nanomaterials modulate key AD pathological processes, including amyloid-beta aggregation, tau phosphorylation, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. The review also highlighted the preclinical studies demonstrate reduced amyloid-beta plaques and neuroinflammation, alongside improved cognitive function, while clinical trials show promise in enhancing curcumin's bioavailability and efficacy in AD. Additionally, it addresses the challenges of clinical translation, such as regulatory issues, large-scale production, and long-term stability. By synthesizing recent advancements, this review underscores the potential of curcumin-loaded polymeric nanomaterials to offer a novel and effective therapeutic approach for AD, aiming to guide future research and development in this field.

Advancements in Hybrid Cellulose-Based Films: Innovations and Applications in 2D Nano-Delivery Systems

This review paper delves into the realm of hybrid cellulose-based materials and their applications in 2D nano-delivery systems. Cellulose, recognized for its biocompatibility, versatility, and renewability, serves as the core matrix for these nanomaterials. The paper offers a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in the creation, analysis, and application of these materials, emphasizing their significance in nanotechnology and biomedical domains. It further illuminates the integration of nanomaterials and advanced synthesis techniques that have significantly improved the mechanical, chemical, and biological properties of hybrid cellulose-based materials.

Combining orthogonal measurements to unveil diclofenac encapsulation into polymeric and lipid nanocarriers

The quantification of the drug associated to nanoparticle carriers, often expressed in terms of encapsulation efficiency, is a regulatory requirement. The establishment of independent methods to evaluate this parameter provides a means for measurement validation, which is critical in providing confidence in the methods and enabling the robust characterization of nanomedicines. Chromatography is traditionally used to measure drug encapsulation into nanoparticles. Here, we describe an additional independent strategy based on analytical centrifugation. The encapsulation of diclofenac into nanocarriers was quantified based on the mass difference between placebo (i.e. unloaded) and loaded nanoparticles. This difference was estimated using particle densities measured by differential centrifugal sedimentation (DCS) and size and concentration values measured by particle tracking analysis (PTA). The proposed strategy was applied to two types of formulations, namely poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles and nanostructured lipid carriers, which were analysed by DCS operated in sedimentation and flotation modes, respectively. The results were compared to those from high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) measurements. Additionally, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis was used to elucidate the surface chemical composition of the placebo and loaded nanoparticles. The proposed approach enables the monitoring of batch-to-batch consistency and the quantification of diclofenac association to PLGA nanoparticles from 0.7 ng to 5 ng of drug per 1 μg of PLGA, with good linear correlation between DCS and HPLC results (R² = 0.975). Using the same approach, similar quantification in lipid nanocarriers was possible for a loading of diclofenac ≥1.1 ng per 1 μg of lipids, with results in agreement with the HPLC method (R² = 0.971). Hence, the strategy proposed here expands the analytical tools available for evaluating nanoparticles encapsulation efficiency, being thus significant for increasing the robustness of drug-delivery nanocarriers characterization.

Valorisation of Micro/Nanoencapsulated Bioactive Compounds from Plant Sources for Food Applications Towards Sustainability

The micro- and nanoencapsulation of bioactive compounds has resulted in a large improvement in the food, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and agriculture industries. These technologies serve, on one side, to protect, among others, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, polyphenols, flavours, antimicrobials, colorants, and antioxidants, and, on the other hand, to control the release and assure the delivery of the bioactive compounds, targeting them to specific cells, tissues, or organs in the human body by improving their absorption/penetration through the gastrointestinal tract. The food industry has been applying nanotechnology in several ways to improve food texture, flavour, taste, nutrient bioavailability, and shelf life using nanostructures. The use of micro- and nanocapsules in food is an actual trend used mainly in the cereal, bakery, dairy, and beverage industries, as well as packaging and coating. The elaboration of bio capsules with high-value compounds from agro-industrial by-products is sustainable for the natural ecosystem and economically interesting from a circular economy perspective. This critical review presents the principal methodologies for performing micro- and nanoencapsulation, classifies them (top-down and/or bottom-up), and discusses the differences and advantages among them; the principal types of encapsulation systems; the natural plant sources, including agro-industrial by-products, of bioactive compounds with interest for the food industry to be encapsulated; the bioavailability of encapsulates; and the main techniques used to analyse micro- and nanocapsules. Research work on the use of encapsulated bioactive compounds, such as lycopene, hydroxytyrosol, and resveratrol, from agro-industrial by-products must be further reinforced, and it plays an important role, as it presents a high potential for the use of their antioxidant and/or antimicrobial activities in food applications and, therefore, in the food industry. The incorporation of these bioactive compounds in food is a challenge and must be evaluated, not only for their nutritional aspect, but also for the chemical safety of the ingredients. The potential use of these products is an available economical alternative towards a circular economy and, as a consequence, sustainability.

Recent development in fabrication and evaluation of phenolic-dietary fiber composites for potential treatment of colonic diseases

Phenolics have been shown by in vitro and animal studies to have multiple pharmacological effects against various colonic diseases. However, their efficacy against colonic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease, and colorectal cancer, is significantly compromised due to their chemical instability and susceptibility to modification along the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) before reaching the colonic site. Dietary fibers are promising candidates that can form phenolic-dietary fiber composites (PDC) to carry phenolics to the colon, as they are natural polysaccharides that are non-digestible in the upper intestinal tract but can be partially or fully degradable by gut microbiota in the colon, triggering the release at this targeted site. In addition, soluble and fermentable dietary fibers confer additional health benefits as prebiotics when used in the PDC fabrication, and the possibility of synergistic relationship between phenolics and fibers in alleviating the disease conditions. The functionalities of PDC need to be characterized in terms of their particle characteristics, molecular interactions, release profiles in simulated digestion and colonic fermentation to fully understand the metabolic fate and health benefits. This review examines recent advancements regarding the approaches for fabrication, characterization, and evaluation of PDC in in vitro conditions.

Recent Advances in Spectroscopic Techniques for the Analysis of Microplastics in Food

Microplastic pollution has become a worldwide concern in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Microplastics could also enter the food chain, causing potential harm to human health. To facilitate the risk assessment of microplastics to humans, it is critically important to have a reliable analytical technique to detect, quantify, and identify microplastics of various materials, sizes, and shapes from environmental, agricultural, and food matrices. Spectroscopic techniques, mainly vibrational spectroscopy (Raman and infrared), are commonly used techniques for microplastic analysis. This review focuses on recent advances of these spectroscopic techniques for the analysis of microplastics in food. The fundamental, recent technical advances of the spectroscopic techniques and their advantages and limitations were summarized. The food sample pretreatment methods and recent applications for detecting and quantifying microplastics in different types of food were reviewed. In addition, the current technical challenges and future research directions were discussed. It is anticipated that the advances in instrument development and methodology innovation will enable spectroscopic techniques to solve critical analytical challenges in microplastic analysis in food, which will facilitate the reliable risk assessment.

Interactions between cell wall polysaccharides and polyphenols: Effect of molecular internal structure

Cell wall polysaccharides (CPSs) and polyphenols are major constituents of the dietary fiber complex in plant-based foods. Their digestion (by gut microbiota) and bioefficacy depend not only on their structure and quantity, but also on their intermolecular interactions. The composition and structure of these compounds vary with their dietary source (i.e., fruit or vegetable of origin) and can be further modified by food processing. Various components and structures of CPSs and polyphenols have been observed to demonstrate common and characteristic behaviors during interactions. However, at a fundamental level, the mechanisms that ultimately drive these interactions are still not fully understood. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge on the internal factors that influence CPS-polyphenol interactions, describes the different ways in which these interactions can be mediated by molecular composition or structure, and introduces the main methods for the analysis of these interactions, as well as the mechanisms involved. Furthermore, a comprehensive overview is provided of recent key findings in the area of CPS-polyphenol interactions. It is becoming clear that these interactions are shaped by a multitude of factors, the most important of which are the physicochemical properties of the partners: their morphology (surface area and porosity/pore shape), chemical composition (sugar ratio, solubility, and non-sugar components), and molecular architecture (molecular weight, degree of esterification, functional groups, and conformation). An improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms that drive interactions between CPSs and polyphenols may allow us to better establish a bridge between food processing and the bioavailability of colonic fermentation products from CPSs and antioxidant polyphenols, which could ultimately lead to the development of new guidelines for the design of healthier and more nutritious foods.