Therapeutic effects of the gold nanoparticle on obesity-triggered neuroinflammation: a review

Introduction: Obesity is considered a chronic non-communicable disease characterised by excess body fat. In recent years the prevalence of obesity has grown a lot. Individuals with obesity store the excess of nutrients consumed in the form of fat in adipose tissue, and generate an imbalance of this tissue, where there is the secretion of adipocytokines, which contributes to a peripheral and central inflammatory picture, reaching the central nervous system (CNS), generating neuroinflammation. There is still no effective and safe therapy for the treatment of obesity, many of the drugs marketed has serious side effects. Therefore, there is a search for therapies aimed mainly at reducing inflammation.Objective: In this work the possibility of using a new therapeutic option for obesity will be explored, using nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has gained prominence in recent years for being a promising technology for treatment and as a molecule-in-the-light in inflammatory diseases. Gold nanoparticles (GNP) stand out among nanomaterials because they demonstrate anti-inflammatory characteristics by various pathways, and have been widely used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, including in the CNS, demonstrating excellent results.Result: Thus, the use of GNP for the treatment of obesity is promising due to the inflammatory state of obesity, thus acting as anti-inflammatory at the peripheral and central levels.

Bovine Serum Albumin Conjugation in Superparamagnetic/Poly(methyl methacrylate) Nanoparticles as an Alternative for Magnetic Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays

Nanomaterials, such as magnetic nanoparticles have attracted significant attention of medical area due to their capacity to improve the performance of immunoassays. Therefore the aim of this work was to study the bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugation in superparamagnetic (MNPs)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanoparticles with further characterization and application in enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay. The successful conjugation of BSA in MNPs- PMMA nanoparticles was confirmed by several techniques, including light scattering, zeta potential, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Lowry protein quantification assay. The superparamagnetic properties were confirmed by vibrating sample magnetometer. BSA conjugated MNPs-PMMA nanoparticles presented higher interactions with antibody than free BSA. The BSA + MNPs-PMMA nanoparticles (magnetic ELISA assay) reduced the time and increased the sensibility of traditional ELISA assay, reinforcing the idea that the use these nanomaterials are an excellent alternative for the immunoassays field.

Nanotechnology as a therapeutic strategy to prevent neuropsychomotor alterations associated with hypercholesterolemia

Hypercholesterolemia has been linked to neurodegenerative disease development. Previously others and we demonstrated that high levels of plasma cholesterol-induced memory impairments and depressive-like behavior in mice. More recently, some evidence reported that a hypercholesterolemic diet led to motor alterations in rodents. Peripheral inflammation, blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction, and neuroinflammation seem to be the connective factors between hypercholesterolemia and brain disorders. Herein, we aimed to investigate whether treatment with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) can prevent the inflammation, BBB disruption, and behavioral changes related to neurodegenerative diseases and depression, induced by hypercholesterolemic diet intake in mice. Adult Swiss mice were fed a standard or a high cholesterol diet for eight weeks and concomitantly treated with either vehicle or GNPs by the oral route. At the end of treatments, mice were subjected to behavioral tests. After that, the blood, liver, and brain structures were collected for biochemical analysis. The high cholesterol diet-induced an increase in the plasma cholesterol levels and body weight of mice, which were not modified by GNPs treatment. Hypercholesterolemia was associated with enhanced liver tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α), BBB dysfunction in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb, memory impairment, cataleptic posture, and depressive-like behavior. Notably, GNPs administration attenuated liver inflammation, BBB dysfunction, and improved behavioral and memory deficits in hypercholesterolemic mice. Also, GNPs increased mitochondrial complex I activity in the prefrontal cortex of mice. It is worth highlight that GNPs' administration did not cause toxic effects in the liver and kidney of mice. Overall, our results indicated that GNPs treatment potentially mitigated peripheral, brain, and memory impairments related to hypercholesterolemia.