Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 22, Issue 11, 2016

Miniature untethered medical robots have been receiving growing attention due to technological advances in microactuation, microsensors, and microfabrication and have significant potential to reduce the invasiveness and improve the accessibility of medical devices into unprecedented small spaces inside the human body. In this review, we discuss therapeutic and diagnostic applications of untethered medical microrobot Read More

Microbial growth and biofilms formation are a continuous source of contamination on most surfaces with biological, inanimate, natural or man-made. The use of chemical surfactants in daily practice to control growth, presence or adhesion of microorganisms and ultimately the formation of biofilms and biofouling is therefore becoming essential. Synthetic surfactants are, however, not preferred or ideal and biologically derive Read More

Factor XIII (FXIII) is a key molecule in the field of blood coagulation and in the last decades it has weakened attention within the field of angiogenesis and tissue repair. FXIII positively influences wound healing in several tissues by exerting multiple plasma and cellular functions. In the field of haemostasis, FXIII cross-links the neo formed fibrin fibers and supports platelet adhesion to the damaged sub-endothelium warr Read More

Chronic wounds and ulcers are posing a devastating manifestation on the socioeconomic status across the globe along with the patient compliance. It reinforces a need for the development of successful alternative treatments for the chronic wound care and ulcer management practices. This review explores the progressive developments being made in the fabrication of electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds towards elimination of Read More

Nanoparticles are an emerging class of multi-functional materials defined by size-dependent properties. The ever-growing interest in nanotechnology research has been attributed to the significant properties and parameters of the nanoparticles that make them more versatile than their bulk counter parts that are expected to have large spectrum impact on existing technologies such as drug delivery, biomedic Read More

The present mini review offers a brief overview on the preparation and modification of gold nanomaterials (AuNMs) designed for biomedical applications, including biosensors, bioimaging, phototherapy and importantly gene/drug delivery. As biocompatibility is a prerequisite for safe pharmaceutical application, the potential risk of AuNMs to biological systems is also assessed.

Increasing incidence of diabetes and shortage of specific beta cells, hormonal switches like that of delta and PP cells of the islets for transplantation, have forced the scientific community to look for alternative sources through xenotransplantation and nanomedicine. The Edmonton protocol of islet transplantation has shown proof of principle of long term survival of islets in type I diabetic patients, leading t Read More

Certain bacteria selectively attack tumor tissues and trigger tumor shrinkage by producing toxins and modulating the local immune system, but their clinical utility is limited because of the dangers posed by systemic infection. Genetic engineering can be used to minimize the risks associated with tumor-targeting pathogens, as well as to increase their efficiency in killing tumor cells. Advances in genetic circuit design have led t Read More

Calcium phosphate system has been used widely in in vitro gene delivery for almost four decades. Excellent biocompatibility and simple application have motivated the researchers to always consider this system in their transfection experiments. However, there was a major drawback regarding the low transfection efficiency of calcium phosphate. Hence, there have been many efforts in order to increase the gene delivery potent Read More

Energy intensive and chemical routes predominately govern modern dental material fabrication involving complex physicochemical approaches. Current interest in dental material design is shifting towards biomineralization method and green chemistry synthesis to support oral tissue biocompatibility and oropharmacology. This review article describes the context of biophysical approaches based on development in nan Read More

Bone metastasis is one of the most common causes of skeletal morbidity in patients with advanced cancer and is manifested as osteoblastic and osteolytic lesions. Bone metastasis occurs as an organized and multistep process involving tumor intravasation and the survived tumor cells in circulation. Extravasation into the secondary site, initiation of tumorgenesis and angiogenesis are also included in developing the bone Read More