Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 28, Issue 13, 2022

Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation and the spread of cells to other tissues and remains one of the worldwide problems waiting to be solved. There are various treatment strategies for cancer, such as chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, although it varies according to its type and stage. Many chemotherapeutic agents have limited clinical use due to lack of efficacy, off-target toxicity, metabolic instability, or poor pharmacokinetics. One possible solution to this high rate of clinical failure is to design drug delivery systems that deliver drugs in a controlled and specific manner and are not toxic to normal cells. Marine systems contain biodiversity, including components and materials that can be used in biomedical applications and therapy. Biomaterials such as chitin, chitosan, alginate, carrageenan, fucoidan, hyaluronan, agarose, and ulvan obtained from marine organisms have found use in DDSs today. These polysaccharides are biocompatible, non-toxic, biodegradable, and cost-effective, making them ideal raw materials for increasingly complex DDSs with a potentially regulated release. In this review, the contributions of polysaccharides from the marine environment to the development of anticancer drugs in DDSs will be discussed.

Marine sources have attracted much interest as an emerging source of biomaterials in drug delivery applications. Amongst all other marine biopolymers, polysaccharides have been the most investigated class of biomaterials. The low cytotoxic behavior, combined with the newly explored health benefits of marine polysaccharides, has made it one of the prime research areas in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. This review focused on all available marine polysaccharides, including their classification based on biological sources. The applications of several marine polysaccharides in recent years for tissue-specific novel drug delivery, including gastrointestinal, brain tissue, transdermal, ocular, liver, and lung, have also been discussed here. The abundant availability in nature, cost-effective extraction, and purification process, along with a favorable biodegradable profile, will encourage researchers to continue investigating marine polysaccharides to explore newer applications targeting the specific delivery of therapeutics.

Alginate-based biomaterials have been extensively studied for bone tissue engineering. Scaffolds, microspheres, and hydrogels can be developed using alginate, which is biocompatible, biodegradable, and able to deliver growth factors and drugs. Alginate microspheres can be produced using crosslinking, microfluidic, three-dimensional printing, extrusion, and emulsion methods. The sizes of the alginate microspheres range from 10 μm to 4 mm. This review describes the chemical characterization and mechanical assessment of alginatebased microspheres. Combinations of alginate with hydroxyapatite, chitosan, collagen, polylactic acid, polycaprolactone, and bioglass were discussed for bone tissue repair and regeneration. In addition, alginate combinations with bone morphogenetic proteins, vascular endothelial growth factor, transforming growth factor beta- 3, other growth factors, cells, proteins, drugs, and osteoinductive drugs were analyzed for tissue engineering applications. Furthermore, the biocompatibility of developed alginate microspheres was discussed for different cell lines. Finally, alginate microsphere-based composites with stem cell interaction for bone tissue regeneration were presented. In the present review, we have assessed the preclinical research on in vivo models of alginatebased microspheres for bone tissue repair and regeneration. Overall, alginate-based microspheres are potential candidates for graft substitutes and the treatment of various bone-related diseases.

Introduction: Psoriasis is an incurable, non-contagious inflammatory autoimmune skin disease characterised by abnormal skin redness and flaky patches on the body surface. It is caused by negative signals produced by the immune system, leading to excessive growth and differentiation of keratinocytes and other inflammatory reactions on the skin. The topical route is primarily preferred in treating skin disorders due to the smaller size of the drug molecule, which allows them to cross the outer layer of the skin, i.e., stratum corneum, and permeate into the deep layer, unlike transdermal and other routes. The conventional topical treatments used in the past, such as coal tar and dithranol, lead to meager patient compliance due to decreased potency and imperfect aesthetic. In contrast, systemic therapy such as methotrexate, cyclosporine, and acitretin produce related side effects. At present, various novel carriers like liposomes, ethosomes, niosomes, nanostructured lipid carriers, etc., have shown promising results in the treatment of psoriasis. Therefore, this review primarily concentrates on the current advancements in novel carriers for various drugs to treat psoriasis topically. Discussion: The goal of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the pathophysiology, epidemiology, types, causes, diagnosis, and topical treatment options for psoriasis, as well as the role of nanotechnology- based delivery systems in psoriasis management.

Background: Neuronal cell apoptosis is associated with radiation exposure. It is urgent to study the radiation protection of hippocampal neurons. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect of anthocyanins on radiation and its potential mechanism. Materials and Methods: The irradiation was carried out at room temperature with 4-Gy dose. Anthocyanins were intraperitoneally administered to rats prior to radiation exposure. The immunohistology and survival of neurons within the hippocampi, neuroprotective effects of anthocyanin, mean ROS accumulation and SIRT3 expression by Western Blot and qRTPCR were performed. Results: Anthocyanins inhibit radiation-induced apoptosis by activating SIRT3. SIRT3 mRNA increased 24 hours after anthocyanin performed, accompanied by an increase in SIRT3 protein and activity. Conclusion: Anthocyanin can effectively resist radiation-induced oxidation and support its role in scavenging cellular reactive oxygen species. The results showed that anthocyanin protected hippocampal neurons from apoptosis through the activity of SIRT3 after irradiation.