Sunscreen products are essential for shielding the skin from ultraviolet (UV) radiation, a leading cause of skin cancer. While existing products serve this purpose, there is a growing need to enhance their efficacy while minimizing potential systemic absorption of UV filters and associated toxicological risks. Liposomal-based formulations have emerged as a promising approach to address these challenges and develop advanced photoprotective products.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmphotericin B (AmB) is a potent polyenic antifungal agent with leishmanicidal activity. Due to its low solubility and permeability in the gastrointestinal tract, AmB is usually administered intravenously. In this context, various approaches have been used to try to improve these properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Cannabidiol (CBD), a phytocannabinoid from , has several therapeutic properties. However, its high lipophilicity, metabolization, and instability impair its bioavailability and translational use in clinical settings. Several advanced drug delivery systems (ADDSs) have been evaluated as CBD carriers to overcome these drawbacks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiposomes have become successful nanostructured systems used in clinical practices. These vesicles are able to carry important drug loadings with noteworthy stability. The aim of this work was to develop iron oxide-loaded stealth liposomes as a prospective alternative for the treatment of lung cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFXylan extracted from corn cobs was used to produce mesalamine-loaded xylan microparticles (XMP5-ASA) by cross-linking polymerization using a non-hazardous cross-linking agent. The microparticles were characterized by thermal analysis (DSC/TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A comparative study of the in vitro drug release from XMP5-ASA and from gastro-resistant capsules filled with XMP5-ASA (XMPCAP5-ASA) or 5-ASA was also performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceutics
September 2020
This study assesses the efficacy of different nanoemulsion formulations as new and innovative adjuvants for improving the in vivo immunization against the scorpion venom. Nanoemulsions were designed testing key-variables such as surfactants, co-solvents, and the influence of the temperature, which would be able to induce the phase transition from a liquid crystal to a stable nanoemulsion, assessed for four months. Additionally, cationic-covered nanoemulsion with hyper-branched poly(ethyleneimine) was prepared and its performance was compared to the non-cationic ones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFXylan, an abundant biopolymer mainly extracted from plants and algae, is commonly studied for textile, food and biomedical applications. In this review, different approaches to obtain xylan-based products for drug delivery purposes were described. Investigations about xylan-based films, micro- and nanostructure, with the ability or not to swell (hydrogels), developed for biomedical applications, were summarized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to develop, optimize, and characterize a stable therapeutic bullfrog oil based nanoemulsion for oral application using a rational experimental design approach. The optimized oral nanoemulsion contained 0.2 % sodium benzoate and 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceutics
May 2019
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic disease characterized by progressive skin sores. Currently, treatments for CL are limited to parenteral administration of the drug, which presents severe adverse effects and low cure rates. Therefore, this study aimed to develop poly(vinyl-alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels containing Amphotericin B (AmB) intended for topical treatment of CL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxicon
June 2019
Scorpion envenomation has been considered a public health issue around the world. Tityus serrulatus represents a specie of major medical importance in Brazil due to mortality rates of approximately 1% among children and elderly populations. The aim of this work was to evaluate the in vivo anti-inflammatory potential of aqueous extract from Hancornia speciosa fruits, its fractions and its phenolic compounds against T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceutics
December 2018
Chloroquine diphosphate (CQ) is a hydrophilic drug with low entrapment efficiency in hydrophobic nanoparticles (NP). Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is an enveloped double-stranded DNA virus worldwide known as a common human pathogen. This study aims to develop chloroquine-loaded poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanoparticles (CQ-NP) to improve the chloroquine anti- HSV-1 efficacy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Parasitol
September 2018
Amphotericin B (AmB) is effective against visceral leishmaniasis (VL), but the renal toxicity of the conventional form, mixed micelles with deoxycholate (M-AmB), is often dose-limiting, while the less toxic lipid-based formulations such as AmBisome are very expensive. Two different strategies to improve the therapeutic index of AmB with inexpensive ingredients were evaluated on this work: (i) the heat treatment of the commercial formulation (H-AmB) and (ii) the preparation of an AmB-loaded microemulsion (ME-AmB). M-AmB was heated to 70 °C for 20 min.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA rapid, simple, precise and economic method for the quantification of main compounds of copaiba resin and essential oils (Copaifera langsdorffii Desf.) by gas chromatography (GC) has been developed and validated. Copaiba essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation from the copaiba resin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the factors that can modify the drug release profile of a drug from a Drug-Delivery-System (DDS) is a mandatory step to determine the effectiveness of new therapies. The aim of this study was to assess the Amphotericin-B (AmB) kinetic release profiles from polymeric systems with different compositions and geometries and to correlate these profiles with the thermodynamic parameters through mathematical modeling. Film casting and electrospinning techniques were used to compare behavior of films and fibers, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharm Dev Technol
February 2018
This work describes the preparation and evaluation of safe xylan-based microparticles prepared by cross-linking polymerization using sodium trimetaphosphate. The resulting microparticles were evaluated for morphology, particle size, polymer-cross-link agent interaction, and in vitro toxicity. The microparticles showed narrow monodisperse size distributions with their mean sizes being between 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo evaluate the effect of tadalafil in renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats Methods: Group I/R saline rats (n=6) were subjected to 45 minutes of left renal ischemia and treated with saline; the I/R tadalafil rats (n=6) received oral 10mg/kg tadalafil microemulsion one hour before ischemia. In both groups, 8 hours after ischemia, laboratory analysis were performed Results: Better tissue perfusion was lower in ischemic left/kidney than in right/kidney in saline group, suggesting reduced kidney clearance. Fluorescence in left/kidneys of tadalafil treated rats was lower than in right/kidneys (difference not significant).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRestor Neurol Neurosci
January 2018
Background: We hypothesized in this study that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of primary motor cortex could exert top-down modulation over subcortical systems associated with autonomic control and thus be useful to revert some of the dysfunctional changes found in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) of subjects with spinal cord injuries (SCI).
Objective: To explore the acute effect of tDCS on ANS indexed by Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in individuals with SCI and analyze whether this effect depends on the gender, degree, level and time of injury.
Methods: In this randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover, double-blinded study, 18 adults with SCI (32.
Snakebites are a serious worldwide public health problem. In Brazil, about 90% of accidents are attributed to snakes from the genus. The specific treatment consists of antivenom serum therapy, which has some limitations such as inability to neutralize local effects, difficult access in some regions, risk of immunological reactions, and high cost.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharm Res
December 2016
Purpose: Aim was to formulate oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsion with a high volume ratio of complex natural oil, i.e. copaiba oil and low surfactant content.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To develop a new corneal release system to deliver optimum amounts of mitomycin-C (MMC) during the perioperative period of photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).
Setting: Ophthalmos S/A, São Paulo, Brazil.
Design: Experimental study.
Purpose: To investigate the antimicrobial, immunological and healing effects of Melipona scutellaris honey on infected wounds of rat skin.
Methods: Twenty four Wistar rats were distributed in four groups (6-each). The uninfected skin wounds of group I rats were treated daily with saline for 7 days.
Colloidal systems such as emulsions, microemulsions and nanoemulsions are able to transport active molecules, enhance their solubility and stability and minimize their side effects. However, since they are dispersions with an aqueous continuous phase they have some disadvantages such as the risk of microbiological contamination, degradation by hydrolysis, physico-chemical instability and loss of pharmacological activity of the drug. Freeze drying, in which the water is removed from the preparation by sublimation under vacuum, has been suggested as a means to resolve these problems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Nanomedicine
April 2016
Methyl dihydrojasmonate (MJ) has been studied because of its application as an antitumor drug compound. However, as MJ is a poorly water-soluble compound, a suitable oil-in-water microemulsion (ME) has been studied in order to provide its solubilization in an aqueous media and to allow its administration by the parenteral route. The ME used in this work was characterized on the pseudo-ternary phase diagram by dynamic light scattering and rheological measurements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEthnopharmacological Relevance: Envenoming caused by scorpion sting is a serious public health problem. In Brazil, 13,038 accidents caused by venomous animals have been reported. Of this total, 53% of the cases and 14 deaths were caused by scorpions.
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