Nanosuspensions have emerged as a promising strategy for the efficient delivery of hydrophobic drugs because of their versatile features and unique advantages. Techniques such as media milling and highpressure homogenization have been used commercially for producing nanosuspensions. Recently, the engineering of nanosuspensions employing emulsions and microemulsions as templates has been addressed in the literature. The unique features of nanosuspensions have enabled their use in various dosage forms, including specialized delivery systems such as mucoadhesive hydrogels. Rapid strides have been made in the delivery of nanosuspensions by parenteral, peroral, ocular and pulmonary routes. Currently, efforts are being directed to extending their applications in site-specific drug delivery.

Aging of skin is an intricate biological process consisting of two types. While intrinsic or chronological aging is an inevitable process, photoaging involves the premature aging of skin occurring due to cumulative exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Chronological and photoaging both have clinically differentiable manifestations. Various natural and synthetic retinoids have been explored for the treatment of aging and many of them have shown histological and clinical improvement, but most of the studies have been carried out in patients presenting with photoaged skin. Amongst the retinoids, tretinoin possibly is the most potent and certainly the most widely investigated retinoid for photoaging therapy. Although retinoids show promise in the treatment of skin aging, irritant reactions such as burning, scaling or dermatitis associated with retinoid therapy limit their acceptance by patients. This problem is more prominent with tretinoin and tazarotene whereas other retinoids mainly represented by retinaldehyde and retinol are considerably less irritating. In order to minimize these side effects, various novel drug delivery systems have been developed. In particular, nanoparticles have shown a good potential in improving the stability, tolerability and efficacy of retinoids like tretinoin and retinol. However, more elaborate clinical studies are required to confirm their advantage in the delivery of topical retinoids.

Background The rapid spread of novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 or nCoV has caused countries all over the world to impose lockdowns and undertake stringent preventive measures. This new positive-sense single-stranded RNA strain of coronavirus spreads through droplets of saliva and nasal discharge. Purpose US FDA has authorized the emergency use of Remdesivir looking at the increasing number of cases of COVID-19, however there is still no drug approved to treat COVID-19. An alternative way of treatment could be the use of naturally derived molecules with known antiviral properties. Method We reviewed the antiviral activities of two polyphenols derived from tea, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) from green tea and theaflavins from black tea. Both green tea and black tea polyphenols have been reported to exhibit antiviral activities against various viruses, especially positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. Results Recent studies have revealed the possible binding sites present on SARS-CoV-2 and studied their interactions with tea polyphenols. EGCG and theaflavins, especially theaflavin-3,3′-digallate (TF3) have shown a significant interaction with the receptors under consideration in this review. Some docking studies further emphasize on the activity of these polyphenols against COVID-19. Conclusion This review summarizes the available reports and evidences which support the use of tea polyphenols as potential candidates in prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19.

With advances in therapeutic science, apart from drugs, newer bioactive moieties like oligonucleotides, proteins, peptides, enzymes and antibodies are constantly being introduced for the betterment of therapeutic efficacy. These moieties have intracellular components of the cells like cytoplasm and nucleus as one of their pharmacological sites for exhibiting therapeutic activity. Despite their promising efficacy, their intracellular bioavailability has been critically hampered leading to failure in the treatment of numerous diseases and disorders. The endosomal uptake pathway is known to be a rate-limiting barrier for such systems. Bioactive molecules get trapped in the endosomal vesicles and degraded in the lysosomal compartment, necessitating the need for effective strategies that facilitate the endosomal escape and enhance the cytosolic bioavailability of bioactives. Microbes like viruses and bacteria have developed their innate mechanistic tactics to translocate their genome and toxins by efficiently penetrating the host cell membrane. Understanding this mechanism and exploring it further for intracellular delivery has opened new avenues to surmount the endosomal barrier. These strategies include membrane fusion, pore formation and proton sponge effects. On the other hand, progress in designing a novel smart polymeric carrier system that triggers endosomal escape by undergoing modulations in the intracellular milieu has further led to an improvement in intracellular delivery. These comprise pH, enzyme and temperature-induced modulators, synthetic cationic lipids and photo-induced physical disruption. Each of the aforementioned strategies has its own unique mechanism to escape the endosome. This review recapitulates the numerous strategies designed to surmount the bottleneck of endosomal escape and thereby achieve successful intracellular uptake of bioactives.