Polymer blend technology has been widely used for the past several years for the modification or enhancement of mechanical properties of polymers to obtain an overall balance of properties over those of the constituents. Despite its interesting mechanical and thermal properties, the impact strength of polypropylene leaves wide scope for improvement. A series of blends of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer with an impact grade of isotactic polypropylene (i-PP) were prepared by single screw extrusion at 0-0.32 volume fraction of the dispersed phase. The mechanical properties such as tensile behavior, elongation-at-break, and impact strength of these blends systems as well as crystallinity were evaluated. Crystallinity data have been used in greater depth to support the mechanical properties. Differential scanning calorimetry studies conducted to study the modification in crystallinity of the crystalline component, i-PP, of the blend revealed that the rubber component of the blend enhanced the crystallinity of i-PP phase by providing sites for nucleation. Tensile modulus and strength decreased while the impact strength and breaking elongation enhanced with blending elastomer concentration. The improved properties of these PP/EVA blends are encouraging for carrying out further work on this system (composites) and suggest potential high impact strength applications for PP.

Development of colloidal delivery systems has opened new avenues/frontiers for improving drug delivery. Solid lipid nanoparticles have come up as the latest development in the arena of lipid based colloidal delivery systems after nanoemulsion and liposomes ever since their introduction in the early 1990s. In this review, the authors have made efforts to bring forth the essential and practically relevant aspects of SLNs. This review gives an overview of the preparation methods of solid lipid nanoparticles while mainly focussing on their biological applications including their projected applications in drug delivery. This review critically examines the influential factors governing the formation of SLNs and then discussing in detail the several techniques being utilized for their characterization. This review discusses the drug loading and drug release aspects of SLNs as these are useful biocompatible carriers of lipophilic and to a certain extent hydrophilic drugs. An updated list of drugs encapsulated into various lipids to prepare SLN formulations has been provided. Other relevant aspects pertaining to the clinical use of SLN formulations like their sterilization and storage stability have also been explained. A unique facet of this review is the discussion on the challenging issues of in vivo applications and recent progresses in overcoming these challenges which follows in the end.

Polymer-based nanoparticles have proven to be viable carriers of therapeutic agents. In this study, we have developed nanoparticles (NPs) from polypeptide-polyethylene glycol based triblock and diblock copolymers. The synthesized block copolymers poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(glutamic acid)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) (GEG) and poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(glutamic acid) (EG) conjugated with folic acid for targeting specificity (EGFA) have been used to encapsulate methotrexate (MTX) to form M-GEG and M-EGFA NPs aimed at passive and active targeting of cervical carcinoma. In-vitro SRB cytotoxicity and hemolysis assays revealed that these NPs were cytocompatible to healthy human cells and hemocompatible to human RBCs. Cellular uptake by FACS demonstrated their prompt internalization by human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells and points toward an apoptotic mechanism of cell kill as confirmed by AO/EB staining as well as histological analysis of explanted HeLa tumors. Pharmacokinetics and biodistribution studies were performed in New Zealand albino rabbits and HeLa xenografted Athymic mice models, respectively, by radiolabeling these NPs with Tc. Passive tumor accumulation and active targeting of MTX-loaded polymeric nanoparticles to folate expressing cells were confirmed by intravenous administration of theseTc-labeled M-GEG and M-EGFA NPs in HeLa tumor bearing nude mice and clearly visualized by whole-body gamma-SPECT images of these mice. Survival studies of these xenografted mice established the antiproliferative effect of these MTX-loaded NPs while corroborating the targeting effect of folic acid. These studies proved that the M-GEG NPs and M-EGFA NPs could be effective alternatives to conventional chemotherapy along with simultaneous diagnostic abilities and thus potentially viable theranostic options for human cervical carcinoma.

Huisgen's 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition ("Click Chemestry") has been used to prepare amphiphilic PEO-b-PBLG diblock and PBLG-b-PEO-b-PBLG triblock copolymers as potential carriers of anticancer drugs. Spherical and flower shaped micelles (D ≈ 100 nm) were obtained from diblock and triblock copolymers respectively. DOX was effectively encapsulated up to 18 wt.% and 50-60% of it was steadily released from the micelles over a period of 7 d. Flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy confirmed the effective intracellular uptake as well as the sustained release of DOX from micelles. These results suggest that the diblock as well as triblock copolymers are promising carriers for intra-cellular drug delivery.