Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Plant Derived Natural Products - A Systematic Review.

Traditionally, natural medicines have been administered as plant extracts, which are composed of a mixture of molecules. The individual molecular species in this mixture may or may not contribute to the overall medicinal effects and some may even oppose the beneficial activity of others. To better control therapeutic effects, studies that characterized specific molecules and describe their individual activity that have been performed over the past decades.

In vivo biodistribution of prion- and GM1-targeted polymersomes following intravenous administration in mice.

Due to the aging of the population, the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, is expected to grow and, hence, the demand for adequate treatment modalities. However, the delivery of medicines into the brain for the treatment of brain-related diseases is hampered by the presence of a tight layer of endothelial cells that forms the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Furthermore, most conventional drugs lack stability and/or bioavailability.

Size dependent biodistribution and SPECT imaging of (111)In-labeled polymersomes.

Polymersomes, self-assembled from the block copolymer polybutadiene-block-poly(ethylene glycol), were prepared with well-defined diameters between 90 and 250 nm. The presence of ~1% of diethylene triamine penta acetic acid on the polymersome periphery allowed to chelate radioactive (111)In onto the surface and determine the biodistribution in mice as a function of both the polymersome size and poly(ethylene glycol) corona thickness (i.e.

Polymerization-induced color changes of polydiacetylene-containing liposomes and peptide amphiphile fibers.

Polydiacetylenes have received much attention due to their intrinsic optical properties. Their inclination to change color in response to environmental factors has been extensively exploited in the sensing of analytes. In this study we functionalized diacetylene-containing peptide amphiphiles and phospholipids with α-bromo esters so that they could be used as initiators in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) reactions.

"Clickable" polymersomes.

Polymersomes, composed of amphiphilic polystyrene-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA), with the periphery being covered with azide groups, were used for further functionalization using "click" chemistry.