Acne is a disfiguring disorder of the skin with significant cosmetic morbidity that may lead to serious psychological and social dysfunction. The skin disease comes in two forms. The most well-known form is Acne vulgaris (referred to as acne), which mostly manifests in teens but may continue into the early 20s. The second form is called Acne rosacea (referred to as rosacea) and mostly affects 30- to 60-year-olds. The two forms, despite sharing a common prefix, are quite unrelated in their respective pathophysiology, have different approaches to treatment and hence are considered two separate conditions. The conventional drug delivery system is efficient in the management of acne but poor patient compliance and adverse effects limit its efficacy. Lipid nanoparticles are novel nano lipid carriers made from biocompatible lipid which reduces toxicity; improve physical stability, skin hydration, and film formation. Furthermore, lipid nanoparticles protect the encapsulated drug from degradation. Thus current review focused on the potential use of lipid nanoparticles for the management of acne.

The present study was started with aim to develop lamivudine mannose conjugated solid lipid nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery to brain. Mannosylated solid lipid nanoparticles enable improvement of brain bioavailability and reduction of lamivudine toxicity. The lamivudine loaded solid lipid nanoparticles were prepared by solvent injection method. The mannose conjugation on nanoparticles surface was done by reaction between aldehyde group of mannose and free amino function group on nanoparticles surface. The formulation variables were successfully optimized using Box Behnken design. The particle size, entrapment efficiency and zeta potential of optimized formulation were found to be 206.4 nm, 48.12% and-43.6 mV respectively. Nanoparticles showed sustained release profile up to 12 hrs. The mannosylated solid lipid nanoparticles showed low % hemolysis and better uptake inside the macrophages cell as compare to pure drug. Results of this study indicated that mannose conjugated solid lipid nanoparticles would be a promising therapeutic system for efficient delivery of the lamivudine into brain macrophages.

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Curcumin is a well-recognized antioxidant phytoactive isolated from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa . Numerous landmark investigations have proved the antioxidant and hepatoprotective potential of curcumin. The aim of present study was to target curcumin loaded nanocarriers to hepatocytes using asialoglycoprotein receptors targeting strategy. Mannose, a water-soluble carbohydrate, was hydrophobized by anchoring stearylamine with an objective to conjugate mannose on the surface of curcumin loaded nanostructured lipid carriers for targeting asialoglycoprotein receptors on hepatocytes. Mannose conjugated stearylamine was synthesized and characterized using various analytical techniques. The synthesized targeting ligand was incorporated curcumin loaded nanostructured lipid carriers and characterized by photon correlation spectroscopy. Zeta potential measurement was used to confirm the conjugation of the synthesized ligand to the surface of drug-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers. CCl 4 induced hepatotoxicity in male Wistar rats was used as an experimental animal model to evaluate the hepatoprotective potential of formulated drug encapsulated nanostructured lipid carriers. The hepatoprotective potential was assessed by measuring serum liver injury markers and oxidative stress parameters in the liver post–mitochondrial supernatant. Mannose conjugated nanostructured lipid carriers showed acceptable particle size which revealed its suitability for hepatocyte targeting. In addition to this, mannose conjugated nanocarriers revealed significantly better (p ​< ​0.05) reduction of serum liver injury markers and proinflammatory cytokines compared to the unconjugated one which confirmed hepatocytes targeting potential of the synthesized ligand. Asialoglycoprotein receptors targeting could be a landmark strategy for hepatocyte targeting. Thus, the synthesized mannose anchored stearylamine could be a promising novel targeting ligand having hepatocyte targeting potential.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, this disease has spread rapidly around the globe. On 11 March 2020, WHO declared Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic and reiterated the call for countries to take immediate actions and scale up the response to treat, detect and reduce transmission to save people’s lives. As of 3 April 2020, according to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), a total of 2301 COVID-19 cases (including 55 foreign nationals) have been reported in 29 states/union territories. These include 156 who have been cured/discharged,1 who has migrated, and 56 deaths in India. Considering the potential threat of a pandemic, scientists and physicians have been racing to understand this new virus and the pathophysiology of this disease to uncover possible treatment regimens and discover effective therapeutic agents and vaccines. The objective of this review article was to have a preliminary opinion about the disease, the ways of treatment, and prevention in this early stage of this outbreak.