Magnetic spinel ferrite nanoparticles (SFNPs) attract high scientific attention from researchers due to their broad area for biomedicine applications, comprising cancer magnetic hyperthermia and targeted drug delivery. Uniquely, its excellent performance, namely, tuning size and surface morphology, excellent magnetism, extraordinary magnetically heat induction, promising biocompatibility, and specific targeting capacity, is essential for their effective utilization in clinical diagnosis and therapeutics of diseases. This review emphasizes the anticancer properties of nanoparticles of spinel ferrites with extra focus on the most recent literature. A critical review is provided on the latest applications of SFNPs in cancer therapy. Based on the results obtained from this review, SFNPs have the indefinite ability in cancer therapy through two mechanisms: (1) hyperthermia, where SFNPs, used as a hyperthermia mediator, elevated the tumor cells heat post-exposure to an external magnetic field and radiosensitizer during cancer radiotherapy; and (2) targeted drug delivery of cytotoxic drugs in tumor treatment. SFNPs induced apoptosis and cell death of cancer cells and prevented cancer cell proliferation.

Curcumin is a dietary compound with accrued evidence of antiviral activity. Poor solubility and permeation renders curcumin a good applicant for incorporation into proniosomes. The intent of this study was to formulate curcumin proniosomal gel for topical application and the evaluation of its in-vitro, ex-vivo activities against Herpes Simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), as well as molecular docking studies on HSV-1 thymidine kinase proteins. Coacervation phase separation tactic, using 23 full factorial design, was used in the preparation of different proniosomes. Cytotoxicity of the selected formulae (F4 and F8) was evaluated on the Vero cell line. Optimal formulae (F4 and F8) showed entrapment efficiency of 97.15 ± 2.47% and 95.85 ± 2.9%, vesicle size of 173.7 ± 2.26 nm and 206.15 ± 4.17 nm and percentages curcumin released after 3 h of 51.9 ± 1.4% and 50.5 ± 1.1%, respectively. Ex-vivo permeation studies demonstrated that the optimal formulae markedly improved the dermal curcumin delivery. Curcumin proniosomal gel formulae exhibited 85.4% reduction of HSV-1 replication. The ability of curcumin to interact with the key amino acids in the enzyme binding sites of 1KI7, 1KI4, and 1E2P, as indicated by its docking pattern, rationalized its observed activity. Therefore, curcumin proniosomes could be considered as a successful topical delivery system for the treatment of HSV-1.

Cranberry extract (CBE) is a major source of the antioxidant polyphenolics but suffers from limited bioavailability. The goal of this research was to encapsulate the nutraceutical (CBE), into bile salt augmented liposomes (BSALs) as a promising oral delivery system to potentiate its hepatoprotective impact against dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) induced liver injury in rats. The inclusion of bile salt in the liposomal structure can enhance their stability within the gastrointestinal tract and promote CBE permeability. CBE loaded BSALs formulations were fabricated utilizing a (2 3 ) factorial design to explore the impact of phospholipid type (X 1 ), phospholipid amount (X 2 ), and sodium glycocholate (SGC) amount (X 3 ) on BSALs properties, namely; entrapment efficiency percent, (EE%); vesicle size, (VS); polydispersity index; (PDI); zeta potential, (ZP); and release efficiency percent, (RE%). The optimum formulation (F1) exhibited spherical vesicles with EE% of 71.27 ± 0.32%, VS; 148.60 ± 6.46 nm, PDI; 0.38 ± 0.02, ZP; −18.27 ± 0.67 mV and RE%; 61.96 ± 1.07%. Compared to CBE solution, F1 had attenuated DMN-induced hepatic injury, as evidenced by the significant decrease in serum level of ALT, AST, ALP, MDA, and elevation of GSH level, as well as SOD and GPX activities. Furthermore, F1 exhibited an anti-inflammatory character by suppressing TNF-α, MCP-1, and IL-6, as well as downregulation of VEGF-C, STAT-3, and IFN-γ mRNA levels. This study verified that when CBE was integrated into BSALs, F1, its hepatoprotective effect was significantly potentiated to protect the liver against DMN-induced damage. Therefore, F1 could be deliberated as an antioxidant, antiproliferative, and antifibrotic therapy to slow down the progression of hepatic damage.

Purpose The current work aimed to overcome the poor permeability and undesirable adverse effects of Zolmitriptan (ZMT) and to increase its efficacy in the treatment of acute migraine by exploiting the synergistic effect of the essential oil, lavender, to fabricate ZMT self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (ZMT-SNEDDS). Methods ZMT-SNEDDS were fabricated based on full factorial design (3 2 ) to statistically assess the impact of oil and surfactant concentrations on the nanoemulsion globule size, zeta potential and percentage drug dissolution efficiency. An ATR-FTIR method was developed and validated for continuous real-time monitoring of ZMT dissolution and permeation. The dose of the optimized ZMT-SNEDDS used in the efficacy study was selected according to the acute toxicity study. The efficacy study was performed on migraineous rats induced by nitroglycerin and was evaluated by the activity cage and thermal tests, electroencephalogram, electroconvulsive stimulation, and biochemical analysis of brain tissue. Finally, histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations of the cerebra were carried out. Results Upon dilution, the optimized ZMT-SNEDDS (F5) exhibited nanosized spherical droplets of 19.59±0.17 nm with narrow size distribution, zeta potential (−23.5±1.17mV) and rapid emulsification characteristics. ATR-FTIR spectra elucidated the complete time course of dissolution and permeation, confirming F5 superior performance. Moreover, ZMT-SNEDDS (F5) showed safety in an acute toxicity study. ZMT concentration in rat brain tissues derived from F5 was lower compared to that of ZMT solution, yet its effect was better on the psychological state, algesia, as well as maintaining normal brain electrical activity and delayed convulsions. It counteracted the cerebral biochemical alternations induced by nitroglycerin, which was confirmed by histopathological examination. Conclusion In a nutshell, these findings corroborated the remarkable synergistic efficacy and the high potency of lavender oil-based ZMT-SNEDDS in migraine management compared to the traditional zolmitriptan solution.

The present study aimed to develop fast melting tablets (FMTs) using silymarin (SM) owing to FMTs rapid disintegration and dissolution. FMTs represent a pathway to help patients to increase their compliance level of treatment via facile administration without water or chewing beside reduction cost. One of the methods for FMTs formulation is lyophilization. Optimization of SM-FMTs was developed via a 3 2 factorial design. All prepared SM-FMTs were evaluated for weight variation, thickness, breaking force, friability, content uniformity, disintegration time (DT), and % SM released. The optimized FMT formula was selected based on the criteria of scoring the fastest DT and highest % SM released after 10 min (Q 10 ). Optimized FMT was subjected to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) besides investigating its lung-protective efficacy. All SM-FMT tablets showed acceptable properties within the pharmacopeial standards. Optimized FMT (F7) scored a DT of 12.5 ± 0.64 Sec and % SM released at Q 10 of 82.69 ± 2.88%. No incompatibilities were found between SM and excipients, it showed a porous structure under SEM. The optimized formula decreased cytokines, up-regulated miRNA133a, and down-regulated miRNA-155 and COX-2 involved in the protection against lung toxicity prompted by HgCl 2 in a manner comparable to free SM at the same dosage.