Bioproperties, Nanostructured System and Analytical and Bioanalytical Methods for Determination of Rapamycin: A Review

Graphene oxide-loaded rapamycin coating on airway stents inhibits stent-related granulation tissue hyperplasia

OBJECTIVES

Our objective was to explore the safety and efficacy of a graphene oxide-loaded rapamycin-coated self-expandable metallic airway stent (GO@RAPA-SEMS) in a rabbit model.

METHODS

The dip coating method was used to develop a GO@RAPA-SEMS and a poly(lactic-co-glycolic)-acid loaded rapamycin-coated self-expandable metallic airway stent (PLGA@RAPA-SEMS). The surface structure was evaluated using a scanning electronic microscope. The in vitro drug-release profiles of the 2 stents were explored and compared. In the animal study, a total of 45 rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups and underwent 3 kinds of stent placements. Computed tomography was performed to evaluate the degree of stenosis at 1, 2 and 3 months after the stent operation. Five rabbits in each group were sacrificed after the computed tomography scan. The stented trachea and blood were collected for further pathological analysis and laboratory testing.

RESULTS

The in vitro drug-release study revealed that GO@RAPA-SEMS exhibited a sudden release on the first day and maintained a certain release rate on the 14th day. The PLGA@RAPA-SEMS exhibited a longer sustained release time. All 45 rabbits underwent successful stent placement. Pathological results indicated that the granulation tissue thickness in the GO@RAPA-SEMS group was less than that in the PLGA@RAPA-SEMS group. The TUNEL and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α staining results support the fact that the granulation inhibition effect in the GO@RAPA-SEMS group was greater than that in the PLGA@RAPA-SEMS group.

CONCLUSIONS

GO@RAPA-SEMS effectively inhibited stent-related granulation tissue hyperplasia.

An overview on multi-elemental profile integrated with chemometrics for food quality assessment: toward new challenges

Food products, especially those with high value-added, are commonly subjected to strict quality controls, which are of paramount importance, especially for attesting to some peculiar features related, for instance, to their geographical origin and/or the know-how of their producers. However, the sophistication of fraudulent practices requires a continuous update of analytical platforms. Different analytical techniques have become extremely appealing since the instrumental analysis tools evolution has substantially improved the capability to reveal and understand the complexity of food. In light of this, multi-elemental composition has been successful implemented solving a plethora of food authentication and traceability issues. In the last decades, it has existed an ever-increasing trend in analysis based on spectrometry analytical platforms in order to obtain a multi-elemental profile that combined with chemometrics have been noteworthy analytical methodologies able to solve these problems. This review provides an overview of published reports in the last decade (from 2011 to 2021) on food authentication and quality control from their multi-element composition in order to evaluate the state-of-the-art of this field and to identify the main characteristics of applied analytical techniques and chemometric data treatments that have permit achieve accurate discrimination/classification models, highlighting the strengths and the weaknesses of these methodologies.