No abstract

The present study described the development of a reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method for the estimation of abiraterone acetate by Quality by Design (QbD) approach. Using an isocratic solvent system for the mobile phase, the chromatographic estimation of analyte was performed on a Hypersil BDS C18 column using mobile phase mixture containing acetonitrile and water with pH adjusted with 0.1% v/v orthophosphoric acid (15:85%v/v ratio), flow rate 1.0 mL.min−1 and detection at 250 nm using photodiode array detector. Systematic development of the chromatographic method was carried out by factor screening using a half-factorial design which suggested organic modifier (%), flow rate (mL.min−1) and autosampler temperature (°C) as influential variables. Further, the method was optimized by Box–Behnken design and trials performed were evaluated for the area under peak, retention time, theoretical plate count and tailing factor as the responses. Validation of the developed method showed good linearity, accuracy, precision and sensitivity. Evaluation of the stability-indicating profile of the method using forced degradation studies revealed the formation of a possible degradation product under acidic and alkaline conditions, while no such degradation product peaks were observed under the oxidative environment. Overall, the study construed the successful development of HPLC assay method for pharmaceutical applications.

To date, there are no antimicrobial agents available in the market that have absolute control over the growing threat of bacterial strains. The increase in the production capacity of antibiotics and the growing antibacterial resistance of bacteria have majorly affected a variety of businesses and public health. Bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) with two separate metals have been found to have stronger antibacterial potential than their monometallic versions. This enhanced antibacterial efficiency of bimetallic nanoparticles is due to the synergistic effect of their participating monometallic counterparts. To distinguish between bacteria and mammals, the existence of diverse metal transport systems and metalloproteins is necessary for the use of bimetallic Au–Ag NPs, just like any other metal NPs. Due to their very low toxicity toward human cells, these bimetallic NPs, particularly gold–silver NPs, might prove to be an effective weapon in the arsenal to beat emerging drug-resistant bacteria. The cellular mechanism of bimetallic nanoparticles for antibacterial activity consists of cell membrane degradation, disturbance in homeostasis, oxidative stress, and the production of reactive oxygen species. The synthesis of bimetallic nanoparticles can be performed by a bottom-up and top-down strategy. The bottom-up technique generally includes sol-gel, chemical vapor deposition, green synthesis, and co-precipitation methods, whereas the top-down technique includes the laser ablation method. This review highlights the key prospects of the cellular mechanism, synthesis process, and antibacterial capabilities against a wide range of bacteria. Additionally, we also discussed the role of Au–Ag NPs in the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infection and wound healing.

It has been seventy years since a water-soluble version of vitamin E called tocophersolan (also known as TPGS) was produced; it was approved by USFDA in 1998 as an inactive ingredient. Drug formulation developers were initially intrigued by its surfactant qualities, and gradually it made its way into the toolkit of pharmaceutical drug delivery. Since then, four drugs with TPGS in their formulation have been approved for sale in the United States and Europe including ibuprofen, tipranavir, amprenavir, and tocophersolan. Improvement and implementation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for disease are goals of nanomedicine and the succeeding field of nanotheranostics. Specifically, imaging and treating tumors with nanohybrid theranostics shows promising potential. Docetaxel, paclitaxel, and doxorubicin are examples of poorly bioavailable therapeutic agents; hence, much effort is applied for developing TPGS-based nanomedicine, nanotheranostics, and targeted drug delivery systems to increase circulation time and promote the reticular endothelial escape of these drug delivery systems. TPGS has been used in a number of ways for improving drug solubility, bioavailability improvement, and prevention of drug efflux from the targeted cells, which makes it an excellent candidate for therapeutic delivery. Through the downregulation of P-gp expression and modulation of efflux pump activity, TPGS can also mitigate multidrug resistance (MDR). Novel materials such as TPGS-based copolymers are being studied for their potential use in various diseases. In recent clinical trials, TPGS has been utilized in a huge number of Phase I, II, and III studies. Additionally, numerous TPGS-based nanomedicine and nanotheranostic applications are reported in the literature which are in their preclinical stage. However, various randomized or human clinical trials have been underway for TPGS-based drug delivery systems for multiple diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, ocular disease, keratoconus, etc. In this review, we have emphasized in detail the review of the nanotheranostics and targeted drug delivery approaches premised on TPGS. In addition, we have covered various therapeutic systems involving TPGS and its analogs with special references to its patent and clinical trials.

In the present work, an attempt was undertaken to improve the oral bioavailability and anticancer activity of abiraterone acetate. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were developed using the quality by design (QbD) principles and evaluated through in vitro , ex vivo , and in vivo studies. Solid lipid suitability was evaluated by equilibrium solubility study, while surfactant and cosurfactant were screened based on the ability to form microemulsion with the selected lipid. SLNs were prepared by emulsion/solvent evaporation method using glyceryl monostearate, Tween 80, and Poloxamer 407 as the solid lipid, surfactant, and cosurfactant, respectively. Box-Behnken design was applied for optimization of material attributes and evaluating their impact on particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, and entrapment efficiency of the SLNs. In vitro drug release study was evaluated in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. Cell culture studies on PC-3 cells were performed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the drug-loaded SLNs in comparison to the free drug suspension. Qualitative uptake was evaluated for Rhodamine B-loaded SLNs and compared with free dye solution. Ex vivo permeability was evaluated on Wistar rat intestine and in vivo pharmacokinetic evaluation on Wistar rats for SLNs and free drug suspension. Concisely, the SLNs showed potential for significant improvement in the biopharmaceutical performance of the selected drug candidate over the existing formulations of abiraterone acetate.