The bending behavior of an L-phenylalanine monohydrate soft crystal reversible hydrogen bond rupture and remodeling.

The present study reports a novel L-phenylalanine monohydrate (L-Phe·HO) soft crystal, which has the potential to be developed as a medical microdevice owing to its flexibility and biosafety. Structure analysis indicated that there were plenty of directional hydrogen bonds distributed along almost every direction of the L-Phe·HO crystal, which appeared to be a rigid and brittle crystal. However, the L-Phe·HO crystal could be easily bent heavily and repeatedly.

Cubosomes with surface cross-linked chitosan exhibit sustained release and bioavailability enhancement for vinpocetine.

The present study aims to develop cubosomes with surface cross-linked chitosan for sustained drug delivery and enhanced oral bioavailability of vinpocetine (VPT). GMO based liquid cubosomes with VPT loading were prepared by the high pressure homogenization method. In order to enhance the anti-digestion effect, chitosan was cross-linked on cubosomes by the Schiff reaction, followed by solidification spray drying.

Size shrinkable drug delivery nanosystems and priming the tumor microenvironment for deep intratumoral penetration of nanoparticles.

The penetration of nanomedicine into solid tumor still constitutes a great challenge for cancer therapy, which lead to the failure of thorough clearance of tumor cells. Aiming at solving this issue, lots of encouraging progress has been made in the development of multistage nanoparticles triggered by various stimuli in the past few years. Besides, the therapeutical effects of nanoagents are also greatly impacted by the complex tumor microenvironment, and remodeling tumor microenvironment has become another important approach for promoting nanoparticles penetration.

pH-triggered surface charge-switchable polymer micelles for the co-delivery of paclitaxel/disulfiram and overcoming multidrug resistance in cancer.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) remains a major challenge for providing effective chemotherapy for many cancer patients. To address this issue, we report an intelligent polymer-based drug co-delivery system which could enhance and accelerate cellular uptake and reverse MDR. The nanodrug delivery systems were constructed by encapsulating disulfiram (DSF), a P-glyco-protein (P-gp) inhibitor, into the hydrophobic core of poly(ethylene glycol)--poly(l-lysine) (PEG--PLL) block copolymer micelles, as well as 2,3-dimethylmaleic anhydride (DMA) and paclitaxel (PTX) were grafted on the side chain of l-lysine simultaneously.

Stimuli-responsive delivery vehicles based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles: recent advances and challenges.

In the past decade, stimuli-responsive drug delivery vehicles based on surface-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have attracted intense interest as a new type of drug carrier. These intelligent drug delivery systems have been demonstrated to enable precise drug release into highly specified targets and exhibit nearly "zero premature release" in systemic circulation. It is expected that an in-depth understanding of the basic mechanisms of the MSN-based stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems (DDSs) would further contribute to this breakthrough field of nanomedicine.