Developing photothermal-responsive and anti-oxidative silk/dopamine nanoparticles decorated with drugs which were incorporated into silk films as a depot-based drug delivery

Antioxidative NAC-Loaded Silk Nanoparticles with Opening Mucosal Tight Junctions for Nasal Drug Delivery: An In Vitro and In Vivo Study

“…Silk cocoons were provided by a silk center, MDARES (Miaoli Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Miaoli, Taiwan). A solution of SF (MW~185 kDa) was prepared as described in a previous study by the authors [7,25] and involved degumming in 9.3 M LiBr and removal of Li + using dialysis with deionized (DI) water. In brief, silk cocoons were boiled in 0.02 M Na 2 CO 3 for 90 min and then rinsed thoroughly in DI water to extract the glue-like sericin proteins from silk fibroin.…”

“…The extracted SFs were dissolved in 9.3 M LiBr solution at 75 • C for 1 h and then dialyzed in DI water using a dialysis membrane (MWCO 6000) (Spectra/Por1, Repligen Co., Waltham, MA, USA) at room temperature for 48 h to remove salts. The final concentration of the SF aqueous solution was 20% (w/v) [7,25].…”

“…The particle size and zeta potentials of the SF/NAC NPs were measured using a dynamic light scattering particle size/zeta potential analyzer (Particulate Systems NanoPlus, Norcross, GA, USA). The SF/NAC NPs were suspended at a concentration of 0.05 mg/mL in DI water for further measurements [7,26]. The morphological images of SF/NAC NPs were carried out by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with an accelerating voltage of 100 kV (JEOL JEM-2000EX II, Tokyo, Japan) after they were stained with 2% (w/v) phosphotungstic acid and placed on copper grids [7,26].…”

“…Sericin-free SF has a low immune-inflammatory response and excellent biological response [2], so it is a suitable biomaterial for engineering various tissues, such as cardiac patches, hydrogels and scaffolds, refs. [3][4][5] and drug delivery in varying forms (e.g., NPs or hydrogels) or with multifunctional properties such as photothermal responses [6][7][8]. The SF polymer also contains several hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments, and the crystallinity of the polymer is easily modulated, so it is a suitable biomaterial for drug delivery vehicles [9,10].…”

Is Co-Administration Curcumin and Piperine a Benefit in Preventing Metabolic Syndrome?

“…Curcumin is a nontoxic, very promising natural chemical with antiinflammatory [4], hepato-and nephroprotective [5,6], antioxidant, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic [7], and thrombosis-suppressing activities [8]. Curcumin comes from the root of the Curcuma longa Linn plant (family Zingiberaceae).…”