Context: Curcumin (CUR) is a promising drug candidate based on its broad bioactivities and good antitumor effect, but the application of CUR is potentially restricted because of its poor solubility and bioavailability. Objective: This study aims at developing a simple and effective drug delivery system for CUR to enhance its solubility and bioavailability thus to improve its antitumor efficacy. Materials and methods: Curcumin nanosuspensions (CUR-NSps) were prepared by precipitationultrasonication method using mPEG2000-DSPE and soybean lecithin as a combined stabilizer. Results: CUR-NSps with a high drug payload of 67.07% were successfully prepared. The resultant CUR-NSps had a mean particle size of 186.33 ± 2.73 nm with a zeta potential of À19.00 ± 1.31 mV. In vitro cytotoxicity assay showed that CUR-NSps exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity compared to CUR solution. The pharmacokinetics results demonstrated that CURNSps exhibited a significantly greater AUC 0-24 and prolonged MRT compared to CUR injections after intravenous administration. In the biodistribution study, CUR-NSps demonstrated enhanced biodistribution compared with CUR injections in liver, spleen, kidney, brain, and tumor. The CUR-NSps also showed improved antitumor therapeutic efficacy over the injections (70.34% versus 40.03%, p50.01). Conclusions: These results suggest that CUR-NSps might represent a promising drug formulation for intravenous administration of CUR for the treatment of cancer.
It is necessary to evaluate the interactions between the different functional layers in optoelectronic devices to optimize device performance. Recently, the I-rich allinorganic perovskite CsPbI 2 Br has attracted tremendous attention for use in solar cell applications because of its suitable band gap and favorable photo and thermal stabilities. It has been reported that the undesirable phase degradation of the photoactive α phase CsPbI 2 Br to the non-perovskite δ phase could be triggered by high humidity. To obtain stable devices, it is thus important to protect CsPbI 2 Br from moisture. In this paper, CuI, a non-hygroscopic p-type hole-transporting material, is found to induce the phase degradation of α-CsPbI 2 Br to the δ-CsPbI 2 Br. The rate and extent of phase degradation of CsPbI 2 Br are closely associated with the heating temperature and coverage of a CuI granular capping layer. This discovery is different from the widely reported water-induced phase degradation of CsPbI 2 Br. Our work highlights the importance of careful selection of hole-transporting materials during the processing of I-rich all-inorganic CsPbX 3 (X=Br, I) perovskites to realize high-performance optoelectronic devices.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.