Vitamin B12-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles as a drug carrier in cancer therapy.

Nanostructure-mediated drug delivery, a key technology for the realization of nanomedicine, has the potential to improve drug bioavailability, ameliorate release deviation of drug molecules and enable precision drug targeting. Due to their multifunctional properties, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have received great attention of scientists to find a solution to cancer. Vitamin supplements may contribute to a reduction in the risk of cancer. Vitamin B12 has several characteristics that make it an attractive entity for cancer treatment and possible therapeutic applications. The aim of this study was to produce B12-loaded SLNs (B12-SLNs) and determine the cytotoxic effects of B12-SLNs on H-Ras 5RP7 and NIH/3T3 control cell line. Results obtained by MTT assay, transmission electron and confocal microscopy showed that B12-loaded SLNs are more effective than free vitamin B12 on cancer cells. In addition, characterization studies indicate that while the average diameter of the B12 was about 650 nm, B12-SLNs were about 200 nm and the drug release efficiency of vit. B12 by means of SLNs increased up to 3 h. These observations point to the fact that B12-SLNs could be used as carrier systems due to the therapeutic effects on cancer.

SaFiDe: Detection of saccade and fixation periods based on eye-movement attributes from video-oculography, scleral coil or electrooculography data.

In this work we present SaFiDe, a deterministic method to detect eye movements (saccades and fixations) from eye-trace data. We developed this method for human and nonhuman primate data from video- and coil-recorded eye traces and further applied the algorithm to eye traces computed from electrooculograms. All the data analyzed were from free-exploration paradigms, where the main challenge was to detect periods of saccades and fixations that were uncued by the task. The method uses velocity and acceleration thresholds, calculated from the eye trace, to detect saccade and fixation periods. We show that our fully deterministic method detects saccades and fixations from eye traces during free visual exploration. The algorithm was implemented in MATLAB, and the code is publicly available on a GitHub repository.•The algorithm presented is entirely deterministic, simplifying the comparison between subjects and tasks.•Thus far, the algorithm presented can operate over video-based eye tracker data, human electrooculogram records, or monkey scleral eye coil data.

Characterization of solid lipid nanoparticles containing caffeic acid and determination of its effects on MCF-7 cells.

Many anticancer drugs that are currently used in cancer treatment are natural products or their analogues by structural modification. Caffeic acid (3, 4-dihydroxycinnamic acid; CA) is classified as hydroxycinnamic acid and has a variety of potential pharmacological effects, including antioxidant, immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activities. As a drug carrier, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) introduced to improve stability, provide controlled drug release, avoid organic solvents and are obtained in small sizes. In this study, we developed solid lipid nanoparticles incorporating with caffeic acid using hot homogenization method. Caffeic acid loaded solid lipid nanoparticles were characterized regarding particle size, zeta potential, drug entrapment efficiency, drug release, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FT-IR. The effects of caffeic acid loaded solid lipid nanoparticles on MCF-7 cells were determined by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-dimethyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test and Annexin V-PI analysis. As a result, solid lipid nanoparticles could potentially be used for the delivery of caffeic acid and solid lipid nanoparticles formulation enhanced the effects of caffeic acid on MCF-7 cells. Some relevant patents are also referred in this article.

Preparation and characterization of ascorbic acid loaded solid lipid nanoparticles and investigation of their apoptotic effects.

In this paper, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C, AA) known as an antioxidant was successfully incorporated in solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) by hot homogenization and efficient delivery of AA to cancer cells. The obtained SLN formulations were characterized by Nano Zetasizer ZS and HPLC with the particle size being less than 250nm. AA-SLNs exhibited sustained release and high entrapment efficiency. According to MTT test results, AA-SLNs showed high cytotoxic activity compared to the free AA against H-Ras 5RP7 cells without damaging NIH/3T3 control cells. These results were supported by the Annexin V-PI and caspase-3 assay. Furthermore, as compared to the AA, AA-SLNs exhibited more efficient cellular uptake, accumulated in the cytoplasm and induced apoptosis which was observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thus, the results of this study suggest that SLNs can be a potential nanocarrier system for AA.