Fabrication of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC)-Based Gels from Microemulsion Template for Delivery Through Skin.

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) represent the novel and widely explored generation of lipid nanoparticles. These are the second-generation solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) developed with the aim to overcome limitations of SLN mainly with respect to limited drug loading and drug leakage during its storage. NLC are fabricated by mixing solid lipids with spatially incompatible (liquid) lipids leading to nanoparticulate structures with improved drug loading and controllable release properties.

Influence of chirality on the thermal and electric properties of the columnar mesophase exhibited by homomeric dipeptides.

We present the first investigation of the influence of chirality on the thermal and electric properties in a biologically important homomeric dipeptide that exhibits a hexagonal columnar liquid crystal mesophase. The peptide employed has two chiral centres, and thus the two possible enantiopures are the (R,R) and (S,S) forms having opposite chirality. The measurements reported the span of the binary phase space between these two enantiopures.

Structure-Property Correlations in Cyanobiphenyl-Based Dimer-Like Mesogens.

In this contribution, we present the results of our extensive investigations on the synthesis and phase behavior of five series of dimer-like compounds formed by covalently linking a promesogenic, cyanobiphenyl core, with a nonmesogenic N-(n-alkyl)-salicylaldimine segment via an oxy(oligomethylene)oxy spacer of varying length and parity. This work is a continuation of our previous short study where the occurrence of re-entrant nematic (Nre) phase seemed to be vitally dependent on the parity of the spacer and the length of the terminal chain. Thus, working along these lines the effects on the thermal (Nre phase) behavior of the various spacers and the terminal tails have been investigated comprehensively.

Polymeric nanoparticles for targeted treatment in oncology: current insights.

Chemotherapy, a major strategy for cancer treatment, lacks the specificity to localize the cancer therapeutics in the tumor site, thereby affecting normal healthy tissues and advocating toxic adverse effects. Nanotechnological intervention has greatly revolutionized the therapy of cancer by surmounting the current limitations in conventional chemotherapy, which include undesirable biodistribution, cancer cell drug resistance, and severe systemic side effects. Nanoparticles (NPs) achieve preferential accumulation in the tumor site by virtue of their passive and ligand-based targeting mechanisms.

Endosomal escape: a bottleneck in intracellular delivery.

With advances in therapeutic science, apart from drugs, newer bioactive moieties like oligonucleotides, proteins, peptides, enzymes and antibodies are constantly being introduced for the betterment of therapeutic efficacy. These moieties have intracellular components of the cells like cytoplasm and nucleus as one of their pharmacological sites for exhibiting therapeutic activity. Despite their promising efficacy, their intracellular bioavailability has been critically hampered leading to failure in the treatment of numerous diseases and disorders.

Psoriasis clinical implications and treatment: a review.

Psoriasis is a common skin disorder affecting the population worldwide. It is a T-cell mediated autoimmune disorder leading to keratinocyte hyperproliferation. Psoriasis has genetic predisposition that is further aggravated by certain stimulating factors.

Reentrant nematic phenomenon in a new class of low molar mass, single-component liquid crystals.

We report the observation of reentrant nematic behavior in a relatively new class of compounds, namely, dimerlike mesogens that are made by covalently linking nematogenic cyanobiphenyl and nonmesogenic N-(n-alkyl)salicylaldimine segments through a central flexible spacer of varying length and parity. The existence of reentrant phenomenon in this class of mesogens, evidenced indubitably by means of several complementary studies, appears to be crucially dependent on the length of the terminal alkyl tail and parity of the spacer.