Nasal adaptive chitosan-based nano-vehicles for anti-allergic drug delivery

Innovative applications of natural polysaccharide polymers in intravesical therapy of bladder diseases

Natural polysaccharide polymers, characterized by their remarkable biocompatibility, biodegradability, and structural versatility, hold great promise for intravesical therapy in treating of bladder diseases. Conditions such as bladder cancer and interstitial cystitis compromise drug efficacy by affecting the permeability of the bladder wall. Traditional therapeutic approaches are often hindered by physiological challenges, including rapid drug clearance and the intrinsic permeability barrier of the bladder. Polysaccharides like hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan (CS) have emerged as promising materials for intravesical drug delivery systems (IDDS), owing to their ability to repair tight junctions in the bladder wall, mitigate inflammation, and enhance permeability. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the mechanisms through which polysaccharide-based natural polymers regulate bladder wall permeability and highlights their advancements in delivery platforms, including nanoparticles, hydrogels, floating systems, and composite materials. By improving drug retention, enhancing bioavailability, and promoting patient adherence, these materials offer a solid foundation for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies for bladder diseases.

A comprehensive review on nanochitosan and its diverse applications in various industries

Nanochitosan, a nanostructured form of chitosan produced from chitin, has become a widely used material with a wide range of applications in a variety of industries. This review summarizes the study on nanochitosan, including its synthesis techniques, distinct physicochemical characteristics, and uses in medicine, agriculture, cosmetics, and cleaning up the environment. The review also emphasizes the impact of synthesis methods such as nanoprecipitation, electrospinning, and chemical modifications on the material's properties and applications. In agriculture, nanochitosan can be used as a long-lasting biopolymer to support crop growth and health. Because it is mucoadhesive and compatible with living things, it can also enhance the effectiveness of medication. The potential of nanochitosan to enhance skin permeability and encapsulate active chemicals in cosmetics presents exciting opportunities for innovation. Furthermore, nanochitosan effectiveness as a biosorbent and antibacterial agent in wastewater treatment highlights its potential to tackle environmental issues. The present study offers valuable perspectives on the present status of nanochitosan research, highlights significant obstacles, and suggests future avenues for optimizing its industrial applications.

Nanotechnology-Based Therapeutics for Airway Inflammatory Diseases

Under the concept of "one airway, one disease", upper and lower airway inflammatory diseases share similar pathogenic mechanisms and are collectively referred to as airway inflammatory diseases. With industrial development and environmental changes, the incidence of these diseases has gradually increased. Traditional treatments, including glucocorticoids, antihistamines, and bronchodilators, have alleviated much of the discomfort experienced by patients. However, conventional drug delivery routes have inherent flaws, such as significant side effects, irritation of the respiratory mucosa, and issues related to drug deactivation. In recent years, nanomaterials have emerged as excellent carriers for drug delivery and are being increasingly utilized in the treatment of airway inflammatory diseases. These materials not only optimize the delivery of traditional medications but also facilitate the administration of various new drugs that target novel pathways, thereby enhancing the treatment outcomes of inflammatory diseases. This study reviews the latest research on nano-drug delivery systems used in the treatment of airway inflammatory diseases, covering traditional drugs, immunotherapy drugs, antimicrobial drugs, plant-derived drugs, and RNA drugs. The challenges involved in developing nano-delivery systems for these diseases are discussed, along with a future outlook. This review offers new insights that researchers can utilize to advance further research into the clinical application of nano-drug delivery systems for treating airway inflammatory diseases.

DES/O microemulsion for solubilizing and delivering curcumin via the nasal administration to treat acute asthma

As a natural small molecule drug derived from turmeric, curcumin is known for its good biosafety and a range of beneficial effects, including anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-tumor, and neuroprotective effects. Even though, its insolubility in water and instability severely limit its bioavailability and clinical applications. The present study developed a deep eutectic solvent (DES) in oil microemulsion (DES/O-ME) system loaded with Cur for intranasal administration, aiming to enhance both the solubility and permeability of Cur to significantly increase its bioavailability. The project first constructed and screened the optimal choline chloride-based DES. Subsequently, the DES/O-ME system was prepared and optimized to achieve uniform particle size and stability using a pseudo-ternary phase diagram and electrical conductivity measurements. The resulting DES/O-ME system was thoroughly evaluated for its solubilization efficacy, permeability, mucosal cytotoxicity, and stability. Additionally, the therapeutic efficacy of the Cur-DES/O-ME was assessed in vivo using a murine model of allergic asthma. This comprehensive evaluation highlights the potential of the DES/O-ME system as a promising intranasal drug delivery platform to overcome the limitations of curcumin's bioavailability and clinical application.

Application of Nanoparticles for Immunotherapy of Allergic Rhinitis

Allergen Immunotherapy (AIT) is the only etiological therapeutic method available for allergic rhinitis (AR). Currently, several options for AIT in the market, such as subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), have different routes of administration. These traditional methods have achieved encouraging outcomes in clinic. However, the side effects associated with these methods have raised the need for innovative approaches for AIT that improve safety, shorten the course of treatment and increase local drug concentration. Nanoparticles (NPs) are particles ranging in size from 1 to 100 nm, which have been hired as potential adjuvants for AIT. NPs can be employed as agents for modulating immune responses in AR or/and carriers for loading proteins, peptides or DNA molecules. This review focuses on different kinds of nanoparticle delivery systems, including chitosan nanoparticles, exosomes, metal nanoparticles, and viral nanoparticles. We summarized the advantages and limitations of NPs for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Overall, NPs are expected to be a therapeutic option for AR, which requires more in-depth studies and long-term therapeutic validation.

Chitosan Nanoparticles for Intranasal Drug Delivery

This manuscript explores the use of nanostructured chitosan for intranasal drug delivery, targeting improved therapeutic outcomes in neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric care, pain management, vaccination, and diabetes treatment. Chitosan nanoparticles are shown to enhance brain delivery, improve bioavailability, and minimize systemic side effects by facilitating drug transport across the blood-brain barrier. Despite substantial advancements in targeted delivery and vaccine efficacy, challenges remain in scalability, regulatory approval, and transitioning from preclinical studies to clinical applications. The future of chitosan-based nanomedicines hinges on advancing clinical trials, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovating in nanoparticle design to overcome these hurdles and realize their therapeutic potential.

The Chemical Modification to Improve Solubility of Chitosan and Its Derivatives Application, Preparation Method, Toxicity as a Nanoparticles

Chitosan is a functional polymer in the pharmaceutical field, including for nanoparticle drug delivery systems. Chitosan-based nanoparticles are a promising carrier for a wide range of therapeutic agents and can be administered in various routes. Solubility is the main problem for its production and utilization in large-scale industries. Chitosan modifications have been employed to enhance its solubility, including chemical modification. Many reviews have reported the chemical modification but have not focused on the specific characteristics obtained. This review focused on the modification to improve chitosan solubility. Additionally, this review also focused on the application of chitosan derivatives in nanoparticle drug delivery systems since very few similar reviews have been reported. The specific method for chitosan derivative-based nanoparticles was also reported and the latest report of chitosan, chitosan derivative, and chitosan toxicity were also described.

Facile fabrication of diatomite biosilica-based nasal drug delivery vehicle for enhanced treatment of allergic rhinitis

Nanostructured silica-based materials have great potential as drug delivery vehicles for precise and personalized medical applications. As natural nanostructured silica, diatomite biosilica (DB) is recognized as a novel carrier to construct oral/parenteral smart drug delivery systems due to high surface area, biocompatibility, and applicability at low cost, yet the related studies on its use in local delivery routes are still scarce. Herein, we proposed a novel strategy to develop multifunctional nasal drug delivery vehicles based on DB, and demonstrated their versatile performance for enhanced treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR). As a proof of concept, the purified DB microparticles were loaded with budesonide as an anti-inflammatory model drug, and further processed via surface modification to graft polydopamine and carboxymethyl chitosan layers. The synthesized microcapsules exhibited remarkable mucin binding capacity and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Besides, toxicity evaluation with human skin fibroblast cells and hemolysis tests indicated their high biocompatibility. Moreover, in vitro drug release results demonstrated pH-responsive release performance of the microcapsules under simulated AR environment (pH 5.0, 35 °C). Hence, this study provides a facile and reliable approach to construct DB-based mucoadhesive nasal drug delivery vehicles, showing great potential for treatment of allergic airway inflammatory diseases.

Intranasal Morphology Transformation Nanomedicines for Long-Term Intervention of Allergic Rhinitis

Intranasal administration has been widely explored as a potential treatment for allergic rhinitis, and improving intranasal penetration and retention of drugs is a challenging requirement to further improve efficacy. Delivery strategies of nanocarriers that enhance mucosal adhesion or mucus penetration have been proposed to improve nasal drug delivery; however, delivery efficiency remains limited by excessive pulmonary deposition and nonspecific cell phagocytosis. In this work, a "nasal in situ assembly" strategy was presented to construct intranasal morphology transformation nanomedicines with enhanced effective drug concentration for long-term intervention of allergic rhinitis. The polymer-polypeptide nanomedicine (PHCK) with a CCR3 antagonistic peptide (C) and a pH-responsive polyethylene glycol (H) was developed, encapsulating ketotifen (KT). PHCK nanoparticles displayed nasal mucosa permeability and transformed to nanofibers in the acidic environment of the nasal cavity, realizing responsive burst release of KT simultaneously. The fibrotic reassembly reduced the cellular internalization of nanomedicine and increased the CCR3 blockade on the eosinophil (EOS) membranes. Both in vitro and in vivo data indicated that PHCK achieved improved drug accumulation and retention in the nasal cavity and decreased pulmonary deposition, then effectively inhibited mast cell degranulation and EOS chemotaxis. This study demonstrates that the "nasal in situ assembly" strategy can improve drug delivery efficiency upon nasal responsive morphologic transformation, providing exploratory perspectives for nasal delivery platforms establishment and boosting therapeutic effect of allergic rhinitis.

Bridging micro/nano-platform and airway allergy intervention

Allergic airway diseases, with incidence augmenting visibly as industrial development and environmental degradation, are characterized by sneezing, itching, wheezing, chest tightness, airway obstruction, and hyperresponsiveness. Current medical modalities attempt to combat these symptoms mostly by small molecule chemotherapeutants, such as corticosteroids, antihistamines, etc., via intranasal approach which is one of the most noninvasive, rapid-absorbed, and patient-friendly routes. Nevertheless, inherent defects for irritation to respiratory mucosa, drug inactivation and degradation, and rapid drug dispersal to off-target sites are inevitable. Lately, intratracheal micro/nano therapeutic systems are emerging as innovative alternatives for airway allergy interventions. This overview introduces several potential application directions of mic/nano-platform in the treatment of airway allergic diseases, including carriers, therapeutic agents, and immunomodulators. The improvement of the existing drug therapy of respiratory allergy management by micro/nano-platform is described in detail. The challenges of the micro/nano-platform nasal approach in the treatment of airway allergy are summarized and the development of micro/nano-platform is also prospected. Although still a burgeoning area, micro/nano therapeutic systems are gradually turning to be realistic orientations as crucial future alternative therapeutic options in allergic airway inflammation interventions.

Advances in Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery

Nanoparticles (NPs) have an outstanding position in pharmaceutical, biological, and medical disciplines. Polymeric NPs based on chitosan (CS) can act as excellent drug carriers because of some intrinsic beneficial properties including biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, bioactivity, easy preparation, and targeting specificity. Drug transport and release from CS-based particulate systems depend on the extent of cross-linking, morphology, size, and density of the particulate system, as well as physicochemical properties of the drug. All these aspects have to be considered when developing new CS-based NPs as potential drug delivery systems. This comprehensive review is summarizing and discussing recent advances in CS-based NPs being developed and examined for drug delivery. From this point of view, an enhancement of CS properties by its modification is presented. An enhancement in drug delivery by CS NPs is discussed in detail focusing on (i) a brief summarization of basic characteristics of CS NPs, (ii) a categorization of preparation procedures used for CS NPs involving also recent improvements in production schemes of conventional as well as novel CS NPs, (iii) a categorization and evaluation of CS-based-nanocomposites involving their production schemes with organic polymers and inorganic material, and (iv) very recent implementations of CS NPs and nanocomposites in drug delivery.

Chitosan-centered nanosystems as sustained therapeutics for allergic rhinitis intervention: Inhibition of histamine-induced cascades

Allergic rhinitis (AR), histamine-mediated upper airway inflammatory disorder, is characterized by sneezing, itching, airway hyperreactivity, etc. Though it is clinically well-managed by non-invasive inhaled antihistamines, for example, ketotifen (KT, histamine release inhibitor) and cetirizine (CTZ, histamine receptor antagonist), inherent defects of short mucosal in situ retention, frequent administration resulting in irritation to mucosa, and lack of target-specific sequential release of dual drug systems which have been proven to be more effective are inevitable, urging for alternative therapeutic strategies. Recent advances in nanotechnology may be pivotal to generating muco-adhesive nanosystems, which is desirable to prolong local retention, reduce dosing frequency and relieve mucosal irritation. In this regard, KT incorporated and CTZ decorated hydroxybutyl chitosan nanoparticles (K ⊂ CH NPs) were fabricated as nasal adaptive sequential release dual drug system for long-term AR therapy. Nasal adaptive morphology transformation and two-step payload release up to 72 h were achieved in vitro, with ~ 3-fold higher bio-adhesivity over free drugs appeared. K ⊂ CH NPs accomplished longer histamine release inhibition (~ 24 h) and histamine H₁ receptor antagonism (~ 6 h), compared with free KT&CTZ of ~ 12 h and ~ 2 h, respectively. The nanosystems provided comparable anti-allergic effect to free antihistamines via successive intranasal dropping in AR rat, while encouragingly, significantly (P < 0.05) better therapeutic efficacy at reduced treatment frequency (every 4 days) and dose (half-dose). Therefore, the outcomes establish K ⊂ CH NPs as effective low-dose and long-interval administered nanosystems to ameliorate histamine-mediated AR inflammation, which could in principal find extensive utilizations in respiratory allergy intervention.

Nanosystems as curative platforms for allergic disorder management

Allergy, IgE-mediated inflammatory disorders including allergic rhinitis, asthma, and conjunctivitis, affects billions of people worldwide. Conventional means of allergy management include allergen avoidance, pharmacotherapy, and emerging therapies. Among them, chemotherapeutant intake via oral, intravenous, and intranasal routes is always the most common mean. Although current pharmacotherapy exhibit splendid anti-allergic effects, short in situ retention, low bioavailability, and systemic side effects are inevitable. Nowadays, nanoplatforms have provided alternative therapeutic options to obviate the existing weakness via enhancing the solubility of hydrophobic therapeutic agents, achieving in situ drug accumulation, exhibiting controlled and long-time drug release at lesion areas, and providing multi-functional therapeutic strategies. Herein, we highlight the clinical therapeutic strategies and deal with characteristics of the nanoplatform design in allergy interventions via intratracheal, gastrointestinal, intravenous, and ocular paths. The promising therapeutic utilization in a variety of allergic disorders is discussed, and recent perspectives on the feasible advances of nanoplatforms in allergy management are also exploited.

Connecting the dots in drug delivery: A tour d'horizon of chitosan-based nanocarriers system

One of the most promising pharmaceutical research areas is developing advanced delivery systems for controlled and sustained drug release. The drug delivery system (DDS) can be designed to strengthen the pharmacological and therapeutic characteristics of different medicines. Natural polymers have resolved numerous commencing hurdles, which hindered the clinical implementation of traditional DDS. The naturally derived polymers furnish various advantages such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, inexpensiveness, easy availability, and biologically identifiable moieties, which endorse cellular activity in contrast to synthetic polymers. Among them, chitosan has recently been in the spotlight for devising safe and efficient DDSs due to its superior properties such as minimal toxicity, bio-adhesion, stability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. The primary amino group in chitosan shows exceptional qualities such as the rate of drug release, anti-microbial properties, the ability to cross-link with various polymers, and macrophage activation. This review intends to provide a glimpse into different practical utilization of chitosan as a drug carrier. The first segment of the review will give cognizance into the source of extraction and chitosan's remarkable properties. Further, we have endeavored to provide recent literature pertaining to chitosan applications in various drug delivery systems via different administration routes along with current patented chitosan formulations.