The high incidence of fungal infections has become a worrisome public health issue, having been aggravated by an increase in host predisposition factors. Despite all the drugs available on the market to treat these diseases, their efficiency is questionable, and their side effects cannot be neglected. Bearing that in mind, it is of upmost importance to synthetize new and innovative carriers for these medicines not only to fight emerging fungal infections but also to avert the increase in drug-resistant strains. Although it has revealed to be a difficult job, new nano-based drug delivery systems and even new cellular targets and compounds with antifungal potential are now being investigated. This article will provide a summary of the state-of-the-art strategies that have been studied in order to improve antifungal therapy and reduce adverse effects of conventional drugs. The bidirectional relationship between Mycology and Nanotechnology will be also explained. Furthermore, the article will focus on new compounds from the marine environment which have a proven antifungal potential and may act as platforms to discover drug-like characteristics, highlighting the challenges of the translation of these natural compounds into the clinical pipeline.

/pdf/current-insights-on-antifungal-therapy-novel-nanotechnology-53okjeo720.pdf

Current Insights on Antifungal Therapy: Novel Nanotechnology Approaches for Drug Delivery Systems and New Drugs from Natural Sources.

Therapeutic proteins have attracted significant attention as they perform vital roles in various biological processes. The delivery of therapeutic proteins to target sites is, however, challenging due to their intrinsic sensitivity to different environmental conditions. Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) can offer not only physical protection from environmental stimuli but also targeted delivery of such proteins to specific sites. In particular, NPs containing charged polymers are preferred for many applications as they provide gentle protection through electrostatic interactions. Moreover, most organs exhibit a specific pH, and by tuning the extent of the electrostatic interactions and contact duration between the target organ and polymeric NPs, the intracellular uptake of the latter and thus long-term therapeutic efficacy can be optimized. In this article, we will critically discuss the design considerations of charged polymeric NPs, strategies for and routes of protein delivery and how these are influenced depending on the choice of delivery route.

Polymer-based nanoparticles for protein delivery: design, strategies and applications

Noninvasive nanoparticle strategies for brain tumor targeting.

Antifungal efficacy of Itraconazole loaded PLGA-nanoparticles stabilized by vitamin-E TPGS: In vitro and ex vivo studies.

Celecoxib (CLX) is a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor; however, the application of CLX is compromised due to its poor aqueous solubility and low oral bioavailability. This study aims to develop a nanotechnology to overcome these issues. Celecoxib nanosuspensions (CLX-NS) were formulated using D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) as stabilizer via high pressure homogenization (HPH) and then freeze-dried to solid powder. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to characterize the physicochemical and pharmaceutical properties of CLX-NS lyophilization. In vitro dissolution, an in situ single-pass intestinal perfusion study, and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies were performed for further investigation. Particles of the nanosuspensions were short-rod shaped (∼388 nm) and remained in the same crystalline state as CLX coarse powder. In the test of in vitro dissolution, CLX-NS displayed a higher dissolution amount (90.8% during 60 minutes) compared to groups of CLX coarse powder (47.9%) and physical mixture (52.9%). Moreover, in situ single-pass intestinal perfusion study indicated that CLX-NS could be well absorbed in the whole intestine with the main absorption site being the duodenum. Significant improvements in Cmax and AUC0–t of CLX-NS were obtained in pharmacokinetic analyses with a 245.8% increase in relative bioavailability compared to CLX coarse powder. This study showed that nanosuspension preparations could be a promising strategy in influencing CLX absorption in gastrointestinal tract, and improving dissolution and oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs.

/pdf/preparation-and-evaluation-of-celecoxib-nanosuspensions-for-55bybq6uvl.pdf

Preparation and evaluation of celecoxib nanosuspensions for bioavailability enhancement

This study is to develop a novel itraconazole-loaded nanoparticle (ITZ-NP) platform for effective antifungal therapy. First, the monomethoxypoly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(lactic acid) (mPEG-b-PLA) copolymer was prepared as a drug carrier material. Then the nanoparticles were formulated via a simple film hydration method. The copolymer and nanoparticles were characterized by standard methods, including 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-NIR, DSC, XRPD, and particle size, zeta potential, morphology and physical examination. Furthermore, in vitro itraconazole release and antifungal activity were intensively evaluated. The results showed that the formed nanoparticles significantly enhanced sustained drug release and inhibited fungal infection. In addition, ITZ-NPs caused very mild hemolysis and slight venous irritation, indicating much better biocompatibility than marketed cyclodextrin formulations of ITZ. An Iin vivo biodistribution study via intravenous injection showed that ITZ-NPs could be effectively retained in blood circulation and selectively distributed in RES-rich organs compared with commercial cyclodextrin injection, with the verification of Re, Te, RTe and Ce. In summary, the developed ITZ-NPs could reduce systemic toxicity, improve antifungal activity and act as a potential intravenous formulation of ITZ.

Development of an itraconazole encapsulated polymeric nanoparticle platform for effective antifungal therapy

The invention discloses preparation of a co-processed auxiliary material from alginate and cellulose derivatives and an application of the co-processed auxiliary material in a sustained-release preparation. The co-processed auxiliary material is prepared by the following steps: uniformly mixing alginate and the cellulose derivatives in a certain proportion, adding the mixture to a mixed solvent ofan organic solvent and water for stirring, adding an inorganic salt solution for stirring, and finally, performing co-processing with a solvent volatilization method. The co-processed auxiliary material has good fluidity and compressibility and can be used for preparing the sustained-release preparation. The preparation process is simple and feasible, and by adjusting the ratio of the co-processed auxiliary material to a drug, the drug can be released at or near a constant speed in 12-24 hours.

Preparation of co-processed auxiliary material and application of co-processed auxiliary material in sustained-release preparation

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Feng Min

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Development of an itraconazole encapsulated polymeric nanoparticle platform for effective antifungal therapy

Preparation of co-processed auxiliary material and application of co-processed auxiliary material in sustained-release preparation