Antisense oligonucleotides provide a promising therapeutic approach for several disorders including cancer. Chemical stability, controlled release, and intracellular delivery are crucial factors determining their efficacy. Gels composed of nanofibrous peptide network have been previously suggested as carriers for controlled delivery of drugs to improve stability and to provide controlled releas...

Stimuli-responsive anticancer formulations can promote drug release and activation within the target tumour, facilitate cellular uptake, as well as improve the therapeutic efficacy of drugs and reduce off-target effects. In the present work, indocyanine green (ICG)-containing polyglutamate (PGA) nanoparticles were developed and characterized. Digestion of nanoparticles with cathepsin B, a matri...

Glycyrrhetic acid (GA)-modified pullulan nanoparticles (GAP NPs) were synthesized as a novel carrier of curcumin (CUR) with a degree of substitution (DS) of GA moieties within the range of 1.2-6.2 groups per hundred glucose units. In the present study, we investigated the physicochemical characteristics, release behavior, in vitro cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of the particles. Self-assemble...

Aim: We investigated the application of fluorescein (FL)-entrapped magnetosomes, in other words, silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles entrapped within niosomes (SIO/NIO), magnetically assisted photodynamic therapy (PDT) vitro. Methods: Panc-1 cells were treated with and without external magnetic guidance, irradiated blue light. Results & conclusion: Upon photoactivation, FL-entrapped magn...

We prepared dual hydrophilic triblock copolypeptide vesicles that form both micron and nanometer scale vesicles in aqueous media. The incorporation of terminal homoarginine segments into methionine sulfoxide-based vesicles was found to significantly enhance their cellular uptake compared to a non-ionic control. We also demonstrated that diblock and triblock copolypeptides with similar hydrophob...

Folate molecules self-assemble in the form of stacks to form liquid-crystalline solutions. Nanocarriers from self-assembled folates are composed of highly ordered structures, which offer high encapsulation of drug (95-98%), controlled drug release rates, active cellular uptake and biocompatibility. Recently, we have shown that the release rates of methotrexate can be controlled by varying the s...

Nanomachines activated by a pH change can be combined with polymer coatings on mesoporous silica nanoparticles to produce a new generation of nanoparticles for drug delivery that exhibits properties of both components. The nanovalves can trap cargos inside the mesoporous silica nanoparticles without premature release and only respond to specific stimuli, resulting in a high local concentration ...

Pharmacological uncoupling of mitochondrial oxidation from phosphorylation promotes preconditioning-like cardioprotection in the isolated rat heart. We hypothesized that modest mitochondrial uncoupling may be a critical cellular event in orchestrating preconditioning. Human-derived Girardi cells and murine C2C12 skeletal myotubes were preconditioned using simulated ischemia, adenosine, and diaz...

The Ca2+ concentration inside the sarcoplasmic reticulum ([Ca2+]SR) is a difficult parameter to measure in ventricular cardiac myocytes. Interference from Ca2+-sensitive dye loading into cellular compartments other than the SR interferes with free Ca2+ measurement. In addition, the composition of the cytosol surrounding the SR in intact cells cannot be easily controlled. We have developed a met...