Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is a neurological disorder that results in cognitive and behavioral impairment. Conventional treatment strategies, such as acetylcholinesterase inhibitor drugs, often fail due to their poor solubility, lower bioavailability, and ineffective ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. Nanotechnological treatment methods, which involve the design, characterization, production, and application of nanoscale drug delivery systems, have been employed to optimize therapeutics. These nanotechnologies include polymeric nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, microemulsion, nanoemulsion, and liquid crystals. Each of these are promising tools for the delivery of therapeutic devices to the brain via various routes of administration, particularly the intranasal route. The objective of this study is to present a systematic review of nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Atividade antioxidante do extrato seco de cacau orgânico (Theobroma cacao): estudo de estabilidade e teste de aceitação de cremes acrescidos deste extrato

Conselho Nacional de Desevolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Análise da influência do agente umectante na estabilidade reológica e avaliação de cristais líquidos em formulações cosméticas

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Surfactant-based transdermal system for fluconazole skin delivery

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Síntese de polímeros supramoleculares derivados dos ácidos palmítico e mirístico com meglumina e suas caracterizações em meio aquoso

Pós-graduação em Química - IQ

Enhancement of Nematic Order and Global Phase Diagram of a Lattice Model for Coupled Nematic Systems

We use an infinite-range Maier-Saupe model, with two sets of local quadrupolar variables and restricted orientations, to investigate the global phase diagram of a coupled system of two nematic subsystems. The free energy and the equations of state are exactly calculated by standard techniques of statistical mechanics. The nematic-isotropic transition temperature of system A increases with both the interaction energy among mesogens of system B, and the two-subsystem coupling J. This enhancement of the nematic phase is manifested in a global phase diagram in terms of the interaction parameters and the temperature T. We make some comments on the connections of these results with experimental findings for a system of diluted ferroelectric nanoparticles embedded in a nematic liquid-crystalline environment.

Agar-Based Gel Electrolyte for Electrochromic Device Application

Gel Polymer Electrolytes (GPE) based on agar and containing LiClO4 have been prepared, characterized and applied to electrochromic devices. The ionic conductivity revealed the best result of 6.5 x 10(-5) S/cm for the sample with 17 wt.% of LiClO4, which increased to 5.4 x 10(-4) S/cm at 72 degrees C. TheGPE have been used in electrochromic devices (ECD) with K-glass/WO3/GPE/CeO2-TiO2/K-glass configuration. The ECD changed transmittance values up to 30% between the colored and transparent states. The charge density measurements revealed an increase of 5.5 to 7.5 mC/cm(2) from the first to 500th cycles and then a decrease to 4.4 mC/cm(2) during the next 4500 cycles. Coloration efficiency (eta) of 25 cm(2)/C was obtained.

Anisotropic Brownian motion in ordered phases of DNA fragments

Using Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching, we investigate the Brownian motion of DNA rod-like fragments in two distinct anisotropic phases with a local nematic symmetry. The height of the measurement volume ensures the averaging of the anisotropy of the in-plane diffusive motion parallel or perpendicular to the local nematic director in aligned domains. Still, as shown in using a model specifically designed to handle such a situation and predicting a non-Gaussian shape for the bleached spot as fluorescence recovery proceeds, the two distinct diffusion coefficients of the DNA particles can be retrieved from data analysis. In the first system investigated (a ternary DNA-lipid lamellar complex), the magnitude and anisotropy of the diffusion coefficient of the DNA fragments confined by the lipid bilayers are obtained for the first time. In the second, binary DNA-solvent system, the magnitude of the diffusion coefficient is found to decrease markedly as DNA concentration is increased from isotropic to cholesteric phase. In addition, the diffusion coefficient anisotropy measured within cholesteric domains in the phase coexistence region increases with concentration, and eventually reaches a high value in the cholesteric phase.

Effect of alkyl chain length of alcohols on nematic uniaxial-to-biaxial phase transitions in a potassium laurate/alcohol/K2SO4/water lyotropic mixture

Lyotropic liquid crystalline quaternary mixtures of potassium laurate (KL), potassium sulphate (K2SO4)/alcohol (n-OH)/water, with the alcohols having different numbers of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain (n), from 1-octanol to 1-hexadecanol, were investigated by optical techniques (optical microscopy and laser conoscopy). The biaxial nematic phase domain is present in a window of values of n = n(KL) +/- 2, where n(KL) = 11 is the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain of KL. The biaxial phase domain became smaller and the uniaxial-to-biaxial phase transition temperatures shifted to relatively higher temperatures upon going from 1-nonanol to 1-tridecanol. Moreover, compared with other lyotropic mixtures these new mixtures present high birefringence values, which we expect to be related to the micellar shape anisotropy. Our results are interpreted assuming that alcohol molecules tend to segregate in the micelles in a way that depends on the relative value of n with respect to nKL. The larger the value of n, the more alcohol molecules tend to be located in the curved parts of the micelle, favoring the uniaxial nematic calamitic phase with respect to the biaxial and uniaxial discotic nematic phases.

Natural Membranes for Application in Biomedical Devices

Polymers from natural sources are particularly useful as biomaterials for medical devices applications. In this study, the results of characterization of a gelatin network electrolyte doped with europium triflate (Eu(CF3SO3)(3)) are described. The unusual electronic properties of the trivalent lanthanide ions make them well suited as luminescent reporter groups, with many applications in biotechnology. Samples of solvent-free electrolytes were prepared with a range of guest salt concentration. Materials based on Eu(CF3SO3)(3) were obtained as mechanically robust, flexible, transparent, and completely amorphous films. Samples were characterized by thermal analysis (thermo-gravimetry analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), electrochemical stability, scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence spectroscopy.

Enhancement of Electrical Conductivity in Plasticized Chitosan Based Membranes

Plasticized natural macromolecules-based polymer electrolyte samples were prepared and characterized. The plasticization of chitosonium acetate with glycerol increased the ionic conductivity value from 3.0 x 10(-7) S/cm to 1.1 x 10(-5) S/cm. The conductivity temperature relationship of the samples exhibits either VTF or Arrhenius type depending on the glycerol concentration in the sample. The dielectric studies evidencing the relaxation process in the plasticized sample at low frequency region are due to the electric polarization effect. Moreover, the samples were transparent in the Vis region, showed thermal stability up to 160 degrees C and good surface uniformity.

Sodium Alginate-Based Ionic Conducting Membranes

The present study investigates gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) based on sodium alginate plasticized with glycerol containing either CH3COOH or LiClO4. The membranes showed ionic conductivity results of 3.1 x 10(-4) S/cm for the samples with LiClO4 and 8.7x10(-5) S/cm for the samples with CH3COOH at room temperature. The samples also showed thermal stability up to 160 degrees C, transparency of up to 90%, surface uniformity and adhesion to glass and steel. Moreover, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis revealed two relaxations for both samples and the Ea values were between 18 and 36 kJ/mol. All the results obtained indicate that alginate-based GPEs can be used as electrolytes in electrochemical devices.

Gellan Gum-LiI Gel Polymer Electrolytes

Gellan-based polymer electrolytes (PEs), doped with lithium iodide (LiI), were prepared and their electrical properties were characterized. The samples are thermally stable up to 234 degrees C and exhibit ionic conductivity of 3.8 x 10(-4) S/cm at room temperature for the sample doped with 40 wt% of LiI. Addition of 10 wt% of glycerol promotes an increase of the ionic conductivity to 1.5 x 10(-3) S/cm, which remains stable up to 100 degrees C. The activation energies of 2.4 to 12.4 kJ/mol were derived from the Arrhenius model. The repeated ionic conductivity measurements as a function of temperature show that these membranes can be reversibly used between the room temperature and 100 degrees C.

Ion-Conducting Membranes Based on Gelatin and Containing LiI/I-2 for Electrochromic Devices

Ionic conducting membranes of gelatin plasticized with glycerol and containing LiI/I-2 have been obtained and characterized by X-ray diffraction measurements, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, thermal analysis and impedance spectroscopy. The transparent (80-90% in the visible range) membranes showed ionic conductivity value of 5 x 10(-5) S/cm at room temperature, which increased to 3 x 10(-3) S/cm at 80 degrees C. All the ionic conductivity measurements as a function of temperature showed VTF dependence and activation energy of 8 kJ/mol. These samples also showed low glass transition temperature of -76 degrees C. Moreover the samples were predominantly amorphous. The membranes applied to small electrochromic devices showed 20% of color change from colored to bleached states during more than 70 cronoamperometric cycles.

Investigation of the interaction of alkali ions with surfactant head groups for the formation of lyotropic biaxial nematic phase via optical birefringence measurements.

Lyotropic liquid crystals exhibiting nematic phases were obtained from the mixtures potassium laurate/alkali sulfate salts (M2SO4)/1-undecanol (UndeOH)/water and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)/M2SO4/1-dodecanol (DDeOH)/water, where M2SO4 represents the alkali sulfate salts being Li2SO4, Na2SO4, K2SO4, Rb2SO4 or Cs2SO4. The birefringences measurements were performed via laser conoscopy. Our results indicated that cosmotropic and chaotropic behaviors of both ions and head groups are very important to obtain lyotropic biaxial nematic phase. To obtain the biaxial nematic phase, surfactant head group and ion present in lyotropic mixture have relatively opposite behavior, e.g. one more cosmotropic (more chaotropic) other less cosmotropic (less chaotropic) or vice versa.