Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 21, Issue 12, 2015

Recent advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have shown that controlling cells microenvironment during growth is a key element to the development of successful therapeutic system. To achieve such control, researchers have first proposed the use of polymeric scaffolds that were able to support cellular growth and, to a certain extent, favor cell organization and tissue structure. With nowadays a Read More

Traumatic Spinal Cord Injuries (TSCI), due to their devastating nature, present several interventional challenges (extensive inflammation, axonal tethering, scar formation, neuronal degeneration and functional loss) that need to be addressed before even a slight neuronal recovery can be achieved. Recent post-TSCI investigational approaches include a combination of “support and therapeutic” strategies capable of providi Read More

Reconstituted high density lipoprotein (rHDL) is an excellent and highly biocompatible nanovector mimicking the physical, chemical as well as physiological properties of native high density lipoprotein (HDL), and is originally widely used as the substitute in HDL related studies. Over the past decades, rHDL has increasingly been exploited into vehicles for targeted delivery of numerous drugs, therapeutic genes, etc., and is pla Read More

The importance of growth factor delivery in cartilage tissue engineering is nowadays widely recognized. However, when growth factors are administered by a bolus injection, they undergo rapid clearance before they could stimulate the cells of interest at promoting cartilage repair. Their short half-lives make growth factors ineffective, unless administered at supraphysiological doses, with potentially harmful consequences Read More

Wound healing is a complex regenerative process of great importance in clinical medicine, controlled by temporal interactions between cells, extracellular matrix components and signalling molecules. Localised delivery of therapeutic active agents viz. antimicrobials, soothing minerals and/or vitamins and growth factors at the site of injury/trauma/wound are expected to be more effective and will always manifest milder Read More

Musculoskeletal metabolic diseases such as osteoporosis have become the major public health problems worldwide in our aging society. Pharmaceutical therapy is one of the approaches to prevent and treat related medical conditions. Most of the clinically used anti-osteoporotic drugs are administered systemically and have demonstrated some side effects in non-skeletal tissues. One of the innovative approaches to pr Read More

Heart failure is one of the most prominent causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction (MI) are responsible for 29% of deaths worldwide. MI results in obstruction of the blood supply to the heart and scar formation, and causes substantial death of cardiomyocytes in the infarct zone followed by an inflammatory response. Current t Read More

1, 2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-Poly(ethylene glycol) (DSPE- PEG) is a widely used phospholipids-polymer conjugate in drug delivery applications. It is a biocompatible, biodegradable and amphiphilic material which can also be functionalized with various biomolecules for specific functions. With the emerging interest in use of nanocarriers for therapeutic drug delivery and imaging DSPE-PEG has become a Read More

Many researchers have attempted to use computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) to realize a scaffold that provides a three-dimensional (3D) environment for regeneration of tissues and organs. As a result, several 3D printing technologies, including stereolithography, deposition modeling, inkjet-based printing and selective laser sintering have been developed. Because these 3D printi Read More

Regenerative medicine holds much promise in assisting patients to recover from injured or lost tissues and organs through organism reconstruction. Three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic models via various approaches can be used by pharmaceutical industry for controlled drug delivery. With proper biomaterials and engineering technologies, drugs can be released in a rate-manipulated manner towards targeted Read More

How to release growth factors (GFs) scientifically to promote stem cell proliferation and differentiation is one of the most significant research focuses in the field of regenerative medicine. In a controlled release system, growth factors, extracellular matrices or biomaterial carriers, and sometimes stem cells together form a geometric entirety. Biomaterial carriers provide GFs with a support structure to be adhered, imm Read More

Nano-sized systems have shown promise for efficient vaginal drug delivery providing sustained drug release and enhanced permeation. In parallel with advancements in drug discovery of new vaginal therapeutic agents, such as peptides, proteins, nucleic material, antigens, hormones, and microbicides, nanoplatforms are gaining momentum as prospective vectors for these agents. Thus far, extensive research in this arena Read More

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which assembles into two distinct multiprotein complexes, called mTORC1 and mTORC2, is known as a central regulator of cellular proliferation and maturation. Rictor is one of the key components of mTORC2 and acts as a scaffolding protein to maintain and stabilize mTORC2. Currently, mTORC2 and/or Rictor are increasingly being recognized as attractive targets for novel moda Read More