Lipid-Based Nanosystems for the Topical Application of Ferulic Acid: A Comparative Study

Harnessing Nature's Toolbox: Naturally Derived Bioactive Compounds in Nanotechnology Enhanced Formulations

The vast diversity of plants in nature offers a rich reservoir of bioactive compounds that have historically played an integral role in pharmacotherapy and continue to serve as a primary source of novel therapeutic agents. Medicinal plants contain a multitude of secondary metabolites with pharmacological potential, making them indispensable in drug discovery and development. These bioactive constituents, inherent in herbal remedies, exhibit a wide range of medicinal properties due to their complex chemical compositions and structural diversity. Despite their therapeutic potential, the clinical application of crude plant extracts is often hindered by limitations, such as poor bioavailability, low biostability, and variable efficacy. These issues can diminish the therapeutic impact of plant-derived compounds. Nanotechnology presents an innovative approach to addressing these challenges through the development of nanoformulations that enhance the efficacy of bioactive compounds. This review examines both historical and recent studies on the synthesis and characterization of bioactive compounds, focusing on their effectiveness in treating various diseases. Additionally, it addresses the risks associated with the direct use of crude plant extracts in medicine, explores extraction and isolation techniques, and reviews research from the past five years on the development of bioactive compounds, their nanoformulations, and their applications in disease treatment. The review also presents recent clinical trials conducted over the last five years on crude extracts and their nanoformulated counterparts, providing insights into the clinical translation of these natural therapeutics.

Cell Staining Microgels Derived from a Natural Phenolic Dye: Hematoxylin Has Intriguing Biomedical Potential

Hematoxylin (HT) as a natural phenolic dye compound is generally used together with eosin (E) dye as H&E in the histological staining of tissues. Here, we report for the first time the polymeric particle preparation from HT as poly(Hematoxylin) ((p(HT)) microgels via microemulsion method in a one-step using a benign crosslinker, glycerol diglycidyl ether (GDE). P(HT) microgels are about 10 µm and spherical in shape with a zeta potential value of -34.6 ± 2.8 mV and an isoelectric point (IEP) of pH 1.79. Interestingly, fluorescence properties of HT molecules were retained upon microgel formation, e.g., the fluorescence emission intensity of p(HT) at 343 nm was about 2.8 times less than that of the HT molecule at λex: 300 nm. P(HT) microgels are hydrolytically degradable and can be controlled by using an amount of crosslinker, GDE, e.g., about 40%, 20%, and 10% of p(HT) microgels was degraded in 15 days in aqueous environments for the microgels prepared at 100, 200, and 300% mole ratios of GDE to HT, respectively. Interestingly, HT molecules at 1000 mg/mL showed 22.7 + 0.4% cell viability whereas the p(HT) microgels exhibited a cell viability of 94.3 + 7.2% against fibroblast cells. Furthermore, even at 2000 mg/mL concentrations of HT and p(HT), the inhibition% of α-glucosidase enzyme were measured as 93.2 ± 0.3 and 81.3 ± 6.3%, respectively at a 0.03 unit/mL enzyme concentration, establishing some potential application of p(HT) microgels for neurogenerative diseases. Moreover, p(HT) microgels showed two times higher MBC values than HT molecules, e.g., 5.0 versus 2.5 mg/mL MIC values against Gram-negative E. coli and Gram-positive S. aureus, respectively.

Bilosomes and Biloparticles for the Delivery of Lipophilic Drugs: A Preliminary Study

In this study, bile acid-based vesicles and nanoparticles (i.e., bilosomes and biloparticles) are studied to improve the water solubility of lipophilic drugs. Ursodeoxycholic acid, sodium cholate, sodium taurocholate and budesonide were used as bile acids and model drugs, respectively. Bilosomes and biloparticles were prepared following standard protocols with minor changes, after a preformulation study. The obtained systems showed good encapsulation efficiency and dimensional stability. Particularly, for biloparticles, the increase in encapsulation efficiency followed the order ursodeoxycholic acid < sodium cholate < sodium taurocholate. The in vitro release of budesonide from both bilosytems was performed by means of dialysis using either a nylon membrane or a portion of Wistar rat small intestine and two receiving solutions (i.e., simulated gastric and intestinal fluids). Both in gastric and intestinal fluid, budesonide was released from bilosystems more slowly than the reference solution, while biloparticles showed a significant improvement in the passage of budesonide into aqueous solution. Immunofluorescence experiments indicated that ursodeoxycholic acid bilosomes containing budesonide are effective in reducing the inflammatory response induced by glucose oxidase stimuli and counteract ox-inflammatory damage within intestinal cells.