Targeting oxidative stress with amobarbital to prevent intervertebral disc degeneration: Part I. in vitro and ex vivo studies.

Background: Mounting evidence that oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration (IDD) suggests that therapies targeting oxidative stress may slow or prevent disease progression.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effects of amobarbital (Amo) on the mitochondria of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells under tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide (tBHP)-induced oxidative stress or in NP tissues under oxidative stress from tissue injury as a means of identifying therapeutic targets for IDD.

Study Design/setting: We tested the effects inhibiting mitochondria, a major source of oxidants, with Amo in NP cells subjected to two different forms of insult: exposure to tBHP, and physical injury induced by disc transection.

Nonviral Gene Delivery Embedded in Biomimetically Mineralized Matrices for Bone Tissue Engineering.

Research in bone tissue engineering aims to design materials that are effective at generating bone without causing significant side effects. The osteogenic potential of combining matrices and protein growth factors has been well documented, however, improvements are necessary to achieve optimal therapeutic benefits upon clinical translation. In this article, rat calvarial defects were treated with gene-activated matrices (GAMs).

Theranostic Nanoparticles for Pancreatic Cancer Treatment.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the low vascular permeable tumors with a high mortality rate. The five-year survival period is ~5%. The field of drug delivery is at its pace in developing unique drug delivery carriers to treat high mortality rate cancers such as pancreatic cancer.

Multi-biofunctional polymer graphene composite for bone tissue regeneration that elutes copper ions to impart angiogenic, osteogenic and bactericidal properties.

Despite several recent advances, poor vascularization in implanted scaffolds impedes complete regeneration for clinical success of bone tissue engineering. The present study aims to develop a multi-biofunctional nanocomposite for bone tissue regeneration using copper nanoparticle decorated reduced graphene oxide (RGO_Cu) hybrid particles in polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix (PCL/RGO_Cu). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of copper oxides (CuO and CuO) on RGO.

Multi-functional nanoparticles as theranostic agents for the treatment & imaging of pancreatic cancer.

Unlabelled: Theranostics has received considerable attention since both therapy and imaging modalities can be integrated into a single nanocarrier. In this study, fluorescent iron oxide (FIO) nanoparticles and gemcitabine (G) encapsulated poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanospheres (PGFIO) conjugated with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, (HER-2) antibody (HER-PGFIO) were prepared and characterized. HER-PGFIO showed the magnetic moment of 10emu/g, relaxivity (r) of 773mMs and specific absorption rate (SAR) of 183W/g.