Advancing Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treatment by Targeting the Innate Immune System and Precision Drug Delivery.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), encompassing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, involves chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Current immune-modulating therapies are insufficient for 30-50% of patients or cause significant side effects, emphasizing the need for new treatments. Targeting the innate immune system and enhancing drug delivery to inflamed gut regions are promising strategies.

Optimized chelator and nanoparticle strategies for high-activity Pd-loaded biodegradable brachytherapy seeds.

Background: Brachytherapy (BT) is routinely used in the treatment of various cancers. Current BT relies on the placement of large sources of radioactivity at the tumor site, requiring applicators that may cause local traumas and lesions. Further, they suffer from inflexibility in where they can be placed and some sources reside permanently in the body, causing potential long-term discomfort.

Remodeling of the brain angioarchitecture in experimental chronic neurodegeneration.

Chronic neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by substantial inflammation with putative impairment of the brain vasculature also commonly observed. To address effects of chronic neurodegeneration on the regional vasculature under experimentally controlled circumstances, the glutamate receptor agonist ibotenic acid was injected into striatum of adult rats, which causes excitotoxicity in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNpr) due to imbalance between inhibitory inputs from the striatum and excitatory signals from the subthalamic nucleus. Brains were examined at 28 days (short-term neurodegeneration) and 91 days (long-term neurodegeneration) and analyzed for vascular remodeling taking both 2D and 3D approaches, the latter involving confocal microscopy of optically cleared samples combined with machine learning-based image analysis.

Gastrointestinal Device-Mediated Delivery of mRNA-Lipid Nanoparticles Achieves Distinct Expression and Biodistribution in Mice and Pigs.

Recent investigations into autonomous ingestible microjet devices have demonstrated the feasibility of delivering many drug modalities directly into the gastrointestinal (GI) wall via the oral route. However, the expression and biodistribution of mRNA after such injections remain unexplored. mRNA-lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) are promising therapeutics for treating or vaccinating against many diseases and pathogens.

Enhancing RNA encapsulation quantification in lipid nanoparticles: Sustainable alternatives to Triton X-100 in the RiboGreen assay.

To quantify concentration and encapsulation efficiency (EE) of mRNA in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) the RiboGreen assay is extensively used. As part of this assay, a surfactant is used to release mRNA from LNPs for detection with the RiboGreen dye. So far, the surfactant of choice has been Triton X-100, which is harmful to human health and the environment.