Selective targeting of anticancer drugs to the tumor site is beneficial in the pharmacotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study evaluated the prospective of galactosylated chitosan nanoparticles as a liver-specific carrier to improve the therapeutic efficacy of gemcitabine in HCC by targeting asialoglycoprotein receptors expressed on hepatocytes. Nanoparticles were formulated (G1-G5) by an ionic gelation method and evaluated for various physicochemical characteristics. Targeting efficacy of formulation G4 was evaluated in rats. Physicochemical characteristics exhibited by nanoparticles were optimal for administering and targeting gemcitabine effectively to the liver. The biphasic release behavior observed with G4 can provide higher drug concentration and extend the pharmacotherapy in the liver target site. Rapid plasma clearance of gemcitabine (70% in 30 min) from G4 was noticed in rats with HCC as compared to pure drug (p < 0.05). Higher uptake of gemcitabine predominantly by HCC (64% of administered dose; p < 0.0001) demonstrated excellent liver targeting by G4, while mitigating systemic toxicity. Morphological, biochemical, and histopathological examination as well as blood levels of the tumor marker, alpha-fetoprotein, in rats confirmed the curative effect of G4. In conclusion, this study demonstrated site-specific delivery and enhanced in vivo anti-HCC efficacy of gemcitabine by G4, which could function as promising carrier in hepatoma.
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Neurology and associated nanotherapeutics is a complex field in terms of therapeutics and neurological disorder
complexity. Brain is an intricate appendage and requires more precise embattled treatment for the particular diseases and
hence it’s a broad scale for developing more targeted drug deliveries. The brain is one of the most inaccessible tissues of the
body due to the existence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), thus delivery of drugs inside the brain is a striking dare and it is
also tricky to treat central nervous system (CNS) complications pharmacologically. The therapeutic aspiration is to accomplish
a lowest drug meditation in the brain tissues so as to gain favoured therapeutic results. To devastate this obstacle,
nanotechnology is engaged in the field of targeted brain drug delivery and neuropathology targeting. These carriers hold
myriad ability as they may augment the drug delivery into the brain by shielding them from degradation and prolonging
their transmission in the blood, as well as promoting their transport through the BBB. Nanopharmaceuticals are quickly
sprouting as new avenue that is engaged with the drug-loaded nanocarriers to demonstrate unique physicochemical properties
and tiny size range for penetrating into the central nervous system. The enchantment behind their therapeutic achievement
is the condensed drug dose and inferior toxicity, whereby restricting the therapeutic compound to the specific site.
Therefore, in this article we have tried to recapitulate the advances the novel scopes for the brain targeted drug delivery for
complex neurological disorders.
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