Functionalized mesoporous silica particles for application in drug delivery system

Exploring the Transformative Potential of Functionalized Mesoporous Silica in Enhancing Antioxidant Activity: A Comprehensive Review

Antioxidants are essential for reducing oxidative stress, protecting cells from damage, and supporting overall well-being. Functionalized mesoporous silica materials have garnered interest due to their flexible uses in diverse domains, such as drug delivery systems. This review aims to thoroughly examine and evaluate the progress made in utilizing functionalized mesoporous silica materials as a possible approach to enhancing antioxidant activity. The authors performed a thorough search of reliable databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Clarivate Web of Science, using precise keywords linked to functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles and antioxidants. The identified journals serve as the major framework for the main discussion in this study. Functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles have been reported to greatly enhance antioxidant activity by allowing for an increased loading capacity, controlled release behavior, the targeting of specific drugs, improved biocompatibility and safety, and enhanced penetration. The results emphasize the significant capacity of functionalized mesoporous silica (FSM) to bring about profound changes in a wide range of applications. FSM materials can be designed as versatile nanocarriers, integrating intrinsic antioxidant capabilities and augmenting the efficacy of current drugs, offering substantial progress in antioxidant therapies and drug delivery systems, as well as enhanced substance properties in the pharmaceutical field. Functionalized mesoporous silica materials are a highly effective method for enhancing antioxidant activity. They provide new opportunities for the advancement of cutting-edge treatments and materials in the field of antioxidant research. The significant potential of FSM materials to change drug delivery methods and improve substance properties highlights their crucial role in future breakthroughs in the pharmaceutical field and antioxidant applications.

Study of Manipulative In Situ Pore-Formation upon Polymeric Coating on Cylindrical Substrate for Sustained Drug Delivery

Herein, the micro-porous polylactic acid coating applied on the surface of the cylindrical substrate is fabricated by a novel in situ pore-formation strategy based on the combinational effect of breath figure (BF) and vapor-induced phase separation (VIPS) processes. Under the condition of high environmental humidity, solvent pair of chloroform and dimethylformamide is employed for post-treatment onto pre-formed PLA coating to induce the pore-formation following the mechanism of BF and VIPS, respectively. A composite porous structure with both cellular-like and bi-continuous network morphologies is obtained. By tunning the experimental factors including the ratio of the solvent pair, environmental humidity, and temperature, morphological manipulation upon the pore morphology can be facilely achieved based on the control of mechanism transition between BF and VIPS. Paclitaxel is used as a model drug and loaded into the porous coating by the wicking effect of post-immersion. Coatings with different morphological features show varying drug loading and release capacities. The 28-day release test reveals dynamic release profiles between different coating samples, with the total release rate ranging from 35.70% to 79.96%. Optimal loading capacity of 19.28 µg cm-2 and 28-day release rate of 35.70% are achieved for the coating with composite BF-VIPS structure. This research established a cost-efficient strategy with high flexibility in the structural manipulation concerning the construction of drug-eluting coating with the feature of manipulative drug delivery.

Micro Trojan horses: Engineering extracellular vesicles crossing biological barriers for drug delivery

The biological barriers of the body, such as the blood-brain, placental, intestinal, skin, and air-blood, protect against invading viruses and bacteria while providing necessary physical support. However, these barriers also hinder the delivery of drugs to target tissues, reducing their therapeutic efficacy. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), nanostructures with a diameter ranging from 30 nm to 10 μm secreted by cells, offer a potential solution to this challenge. These natural vesicles can effectively pass through various biological barriers, facilitating intercellular communication. As a result, artificially engineered EVs that mimic or are superior to the natural ones have emerged as a promising drug delivery vehicle, capable of delivering drugs to almost any body part to treat various diseases. This review first provides an overview of the formation and cross-species uptake of natural EVs from different organisms, including animals, plants, and bacteria. Later, it explores the current clinical applications, perspectives, and challenges associated with using engineered EVs as a drug delivery platform. Finally, it aims to inspire further research to help bioengineered EVs effectively cross biological barriers to treat diseases.

Stimuli-responsive biodegradable silica nanoparticles: From native structure designs to biological applications

Due to their inherent advantages, silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) have greatly potential applications as bioactive materials in biosensors/biomedicine. However, the long-term and nonspecific accumulation in healthy tissues may give rise to toxicity, thereby impeding their widespread clinical application. Hence, it is imperative and noteworthy to develop biodegradable and clearable SiNPs for biomedical purposes. Recently, the design of multi-stimuli responsive SiNPs to improve degradation efficiency under specific pathological conditions has increased their clinical trial potential as theranostic nanoplatform. This review comprehensively summaries the rational design and recent progress of biodegradable SiNPs under various internal and external stimuli for rapid in vivo degradation and clearance. In addition, the factors that affect the biodegradation of SiNPs are also discussed. We believe that this systematic review will offer profound stimulus and timely guide for further research in the field of SiNP-based nanosensors/nanomedicine.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles: facile surface functionalization and versatile biomedical applications in oncology

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have received increasing interest due to their tunable particle size, large surface area, stable framework, and easy surface modification. They are increasingly being used in varying applications as delivery vehicles including bio-imaging, drug delivery, biosensors and tissue engineering etc. Precise structure control and the ability to modify surface properties of MSNs are important for their applications. This review summarises the different synthetic methods for the preparation of well-ordered MSNs with tunable pore volume as well as the approaches of drugs loading, especially highlighting the facile surface functionalization for various purposes and versatile biomedical applications in oncology. Finally, the challenges of clinical transformation of MSNs-based nanomedicines are further discussed.

Nano-based delivery of RNAi in cancer therapy

Background

RNA interference (RNAi), a newly developed method in which RNA molecules inhibit gene expression, has recently received considerable research attention. In the development of RNAi-based therapies, nanoparticles, which have distinctive size effects along with facile modification strategies and are capable of mediating effective RNAi with targeting potential, are attracting extensive interest.

Objective

This review presents an overview of the mechanisms of RNAi molecules in gene therapy and the different nanoparticles used to deliver RNAi molecules; briefly describes the current uses of RNAi in cancer therapy along with the nano-based delivery of RNA molecules in previous studies; and highlights some other carriers that have been applied in clinical settings. Finally, we discuss the nano-based delivery of RNAi therapeutics in preclinical development, including the current status and limitations of anti-cancer treatment.

Conclusion

With the growing number of RNAi therapeutics entering the clinical phase, various nanocarriers are expected to play important roles in the delivery of RNAi molecules for cancer therapeutics.

Functionalized silica nanoparticles as a carrier for Betamethasone Sodium Phosphate: Drug release study and statistical optimization of drug loading by response surface method

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a hexagonal structure (SBA-15) were synthesized and modified with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES), and their performance as a carrier for drug delivery system was studied. Chemical structure and morphology of the synthesized and modified SBA-15 were characterized by SEM, BET, TEM, FT-IR and CHN technique. Betamethasone Sodium Phosphate (BSP) as a water soluble drug was loaded on the mesoporous silica particle for the first time. The response surface method was employed to obtain the optimum conditions for the drug/silica nanoparticle preparation, by using Design-Expert software. The effect of time, pH of preparative media, and drug/silica ratio on the drug loading efficiency was investigated by the software. The maximum loading (33.69%) was achieved under optimized condition (pH: 1.8, time: 3.54 (h) and drug/silica ratio: 1.7). The in vitro release behavior of drug loaded particles under various pH values was evaluated. Finally, the release kinetic of the drug was investigated using the Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas models. Cell culture and cytotoxicity assays revealed the synthesized product doesn't have any cytotoxicity against human bladder cell line 5637. Accordingly, the produced drug-loaded nanostructures can be applied via different routes, such as implantation and topical or oral administration.

Effects of the sol-gel route on the structural characteristics and antibacterial activity of silica-encapsulated gentamicin

The effects of sol-gel processes, i.e., acid-catalyzed gelation, base-catalyzed gelation and base-catalyzed precipitation routes, on the encapsulation of gentamicin were investigated. The resulting xerogels were characterized using a series of complementary instrumental techniques, i.e., the adsorption/desorption of nitrogen, small-angle X-ray scattering, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The encapsulated gentamicin samples were tested against a series of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. The best antimicrobial activity was observed with the encapsulated gentamicin that was prepared via the precipitation route, even in comparison with the neat antibiotic, especially in the case of the Gram-positive strain Staphylococcus aureus. The gentamicin concentration on the outermost surface and the zeta potential were identified as factors that affected the highest efficiency, as observed in the case of encapsulation via the base-catalyzed process.

An emerging platform for drug delivery: aerogel based systems

Over the past few decades, advances in "aerogel science" have provoked an increasing interest for these materials in pharmaceutical sciences for drug delivery applications. Because of their high surface areas, high porosities and open pore structures which can be tuned and controlled by manipulation of synthesis conditions, nanostructured aerogels represent a promising class of materials for delivery of various drugs as well as enzymes and proteins. Along with biocompatible inorganic aerogels and biodegradable organic aerogels, more complex systems such as surface functionalized aerogels, composite aerogels and layered aerogels have also been under development and possess huge potential. Emphasis is given to the details of the aerogel synthesis and drug loading methods as well as the influence of synthesis parameters and loading methods on the adsorption and release of the drugs. Owing to their ability to increase the bioavailability of low solubility drugs, to improve both their stability and their release kinetics, there are an increasing number of research articles concerning aerogels in different drug delivery applications. This review presents an up to date overview of the advances in all kinds of aerogel based drug delivery systems which are currently under investigation.