Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are widely used in the aerospace, automotive, and electronics industries because of their stability, enhanced metallic, and electrical properties. CNTs are also being investigated for biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems and biosensors. However, the toxic potential of CNTs was reported in various cell lines and animal models. The toxicity depends on diverse properties of the CNTs, such as length, aspect ratio, surface area, degree of aggregation, purity, concentration, and dose. In addition, CNTs and/or associated contaminants were well known for oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, pulmonary inflammation, fibrosis, and granuloma in lungs. The increased production of CNTs likely enhanced the possibility of its exposure in people. Studies on the toxicity of CNTs are mainly focused on the pulmonary effects after intratracheal administration, and only a few studies are reported about the toxicity of CNTs via other routes of exposure. So, it is essential to consider the chronic toxicity of CNTs before using them for various biomedical applications. This review focuses on the potential toxicities of CNTs.

No abstract

Polymannose (PM) having a weight-average molar mass (M) of 30-53 kDa was synthesized by the polycondensation of mannose using phosphorous acid as the catalyst and characterized by various techniques such as NMR, IR, GPC and polarimetry. 2D NMR results confirmed the presence of (1 → 6)-linked α-D-mannose residues as backbone with O-3 and O-2 substituted linear or branched chains in PM. Amphotericin B (AmB) was conjugated to periodate-oxidized PM through Schiff's linkages at 20 wt% concentration. The AmB-PM conjugates were highly soluble in phosphate buffered saline (180-250 mg/mL), exhibited negligible hemolytic potential to human erythrocytes even at a concentration of 200 μg/mL (equivalent to ~40 μg/mL AmB) and were non-toxic to human embryonic kidney (HEK293T) cells even at a concentration of 250 μg/mL (equivalent to ~50 μg/mL AmB). The minimum inhibitory concentration of the AmB-PM conjugates against C. albicans, C. parapsilosis and C. neoformans was in the range of 0.5-1.0 μg/mL. Mannose receptors are widely expressed on myeloid cells such as macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. Therefore, apart from treating fungal infections, AmB-PM conjugates also may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of macrophage-associated diseases such as leishmaniasis where mannose receptors are overexpressed.

No abstract

Laryngeal carcinoma, the most common among head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) induces 1% of all cancer deaths. Curcumin, the active constituent of turmeric is more effective in the treatment of various cancer. In the present study, with an aim to explore the mechanistic role of BDMC-A as a chemotherapeutic agent, we have investigated the inhibitory effect of BDMC-A on invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis in Hep-2 cells and compared it with curcumin. Curcumin and BDMC-A treated Hep-2 cells were quanti ed using western blotting and RT-PCR technique to investigate the effect of Curcumin and BDMC-A on transcription factors involved in signal transduction cascade, invasion and angiogenesis associated markers. Pro-in ammatory markers of curcumin and BDMC-A treated Hep-2 cells were estimated using the ELISA kit. The results showed that BDMC-A might exhibit the anti-cancer activity by inhibiting transcription factors mainly NF-κB, p65, c-Jun, c-Fos, STAT3, 5, PPAR-γ and βcatenin, which are responsible for tumor progression and malignancy. Downregulation of MMP-9, VEGF, IL-6 and IL-8 and upregulation of TIMP-2 levels further supports the anti-tumor potential of BDMC-A. Our overall results revealed that BDMC-A more effectively inhibited the markers of invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis in comparison with curcumin.