Breast cancer nanotherapeutics is consistently progressing and being used to remove the various limitations of conventional method available for the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Nanoparticles provide an interdisciplinary area for research in imaging, diagnosis, and targeting of breast cancer. With advanced physicochemical properties and better bioavailability, they show prolonged blood circulation with efficient tumor targeting. Passive targeting mechanisms by using leaky vasculature, tumor microenvironment, or direct local application and active targeting approaches using receptor antibody, amplification in the ability of nanoparticles to target specific tumor can be achieved. Nanoparticles are able to reduce cytotoxic effect of the active anticancer drugs by increasing cancer cell targeting in comparison to conventional formulations. Various nanoparticles-based formulations are in the preclinical and clinical stages of development; among them, polymeric drug micelles, liposomes, dendrimer, carbon nanotubes, and nanorods are the most common. In this review, we have discussed the role of nanoparticles with respect to oncology, by particularly focusing on the breast cancer and various nanodelivery systems used for targeting action.
Objective: This investigation deals with the development and evaluation (in vitro and in vivo) of pH triggered Eudragit-coated chitosan microspheres of curcumin (CUR) for treating ulcerative colitis. Methods: CUR-loaded chitosan microspheres were initially prepared by emulsion cross linking method followed by coating with Eudragit S-100. The pharmacodynamics of the developed formulation was analyzed in mice by acetic acid induced colitis model. Results: The developed microspheres were of uniform spherical shape with high entrapment efficiency. CUR-chitosan microspheres showed less intense peaks compared to free CUR confirming inclusion of drug within microspheres as revealed by X-ray diffractogram. Uncoated CUR-chitosan microspheres exhibited burst release within initial 4 h while microspheres coated with Eudragit S-100 prevented premature release of CUR and showed controlled release up to 12 h following Higuchi model. In vivo organ biodistribution study showed negligible amount of CUR in stomach and small intestine confirming integrity of microsphere in upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT). In vivo study revealed significant reduction in severity and extent of colonic damage with CUR-loaded microspheres as compared to pure CUR which was further confirmed by histopathological study. Conclusion: In vitro and in vivo studies proved the developed formulations as a promising system for pH-dependent delivery of drug to colon in ulcerative colitis.
The present study was aimed to develop and optimize the microsponges of curcumin for colon specific drug delivery in a view to bypass the upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) for enhanced therapeutic effect. Microsponges were developed by quasi emulsion solvent diffusion method using 32 full factorial design. Prepared microsponges were optimized in order to analyze the effects of independent variables (volume of ethanol and Eudragit L100) on the encapsulation efficiency, particle size, and drug release. The optimized formulation was subjected to in vivo study using acetic acid induced colitis model in rats. The F7 was selected as optimized formulation based on particle size of 41.63 μm, % entrapment efficiency of 78.13%, and % cumulative drug release of 84.12%, and desirability factor of 0.83. Release studies revealed that microsponges prevented the premature release of curcumin in upper GIT and specifically released the drug at colonic pH. The drug release profile of F7 formulation was subjected to different kinetic models and based upon the best correlation coefficient (r
2 = 0.9927) the release was found to follow Higuchi model, which suggested diffusion as the main mechanism of drug release. Pharmacodynamic study showed that curcumin loaded microsponges causes a significant decrease in edema, necrosis, and hemorrhage of colon as compared to free curcumin. This study proves that curcumin loaded microsponges may act as a promising drug delivery system for treatment of ulcerative colitis.
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