Near-infrared Light-Triggered Size-Shrinkable theranostic nanomicelles for effective tumor targeting and regression.

Most nanomedicines with suitable sizes (normally 100-200 nm) exhibit favorable accumulation in the periphery of tumors but hardly penetrate into deep tumors. Effective penetration of nanomedicines requires smaller sizes (less than 30 nm) to overcome the elevated tumor interstitial fluid pressure. Moreover, integrating an efficient diagnostic agent in the nanomedicines is in high demand for precision theranostics of tumors. To this end, a near-infrared light (NIR) -triggered size-shrinkable micelle system (Fe3O4@AuNFs/DOX-M) coloaded antitumor drug doxorubicin (DOX) and biomodal imaging agent magnetic gold nanoflower (Fe3O4@AuNFs) was developed to achieve efficient theranostic of tumors. Upon the accumulation of Fe3O4@AuNFs/DOX-M in the tumor periphery, a NIR laser was irradiated near the tumor sites, and the loaded Fe3O4@Au NFs could convert the light energy to heat, which triggered the cleavage of DOX-M to the ultra-small micelles (∼5 nm), thus realizing the deep penetration of micelles and on-demand drug release. Moreover, Fe3O4@AuNFs in the micelles could also be used as CT/MRI dual-modal contrast agent to "visualize" the tumor. Up to 92.6 % of tumor inhibition was achieved for the developed Fe3O4@AuNFs/DOX-M under NIR irradiation. This versatile micelle system provided a promising drug carrier platform realizing efficient tumor dual-modal diagnosis and photothermal-chemotherapy integration.

Chitosan nanomedicines-engineered bifidobacteria complexes for effective colorectal tumor-targeted delivery of SN-38.

The clinical application of 7-ethyl hydroxy-camptothecin (SN-38) maintains challenges not only due to its poor solubility and stability but also the lack of effective carriers to actively deliver SN-38 to deep tumor sites. Although SN-38-based nanomedicines could improve the solubility and stability from different aspects, the tumor targeting efficiency remains very low. Leveraging the hypoxic taxis of bifidobacteria bifidum (B. bifi) to the deep tumor area, we report SN-38-based nanomedicines-engineered bifidobacterial complexes for effective tumor-targeted delivery. Firstly, SN-38 was covalently coupled with poly-L-glutamic acid (L-PGA) and obtained soluble polymeric prodrug L-PGA-SN38 to improve its solubility and stability. To prolong the drug release, L-PGA-SN38 was mildly complexed with chitosan to form nanomedicines, and nanomedicines engineered B. bifi were further elaborated via electrostatic interaction of the excess of cationic chitosan shell from nanomedicines and anionic teichoic acid from B. bifi. The engineered B. bifi complexes inherited the bioactivity of native B. bifi and exhibited distinctly enhanced accumulation at the tumor site. More importantly, significantly elevated anti-tumor efficacy was achieved after the treatment of CS-L-PGA-SN38 NPs/B. bifi complexes, with favorable tumor suppression up to 80%. Such a B. bifi-mediated delivery system offers a promising platform for effective drug delivery and enhanced drug accumulation in the hypoxia deep tumor with superior anti-tumor efficacy.

An FOF1-ATPase motor-embedded chromatophore as a nanorobot for overcoming biological barriers and targeting acidic tumor sites.

Despite the booming progress of anticancer nanomedicines in the past two decades, precise tumor-targetability and sufficient tumor-accumulation are less successful and still require further research. To tackle this challenge, herein we present a biomolecular motor (FOF1-ATPase)-embedded chromatophore as nanorobot to efficiently overcome biological barriers, and thoroughly investigate its chemotactic motility, tumor-accumulation ability and endocytosis. Chromatophores embedded with FOF1-ATPase motors were firstly extracted from Thermus thermophilus, then their properties were fully characterized. Specifically, two microfluidic platforms (laminar flow microchip and tumor microenvironment (TME) microchip) were designed and developed to fully investigate the motility, tumor-accumulation ability and endocytosis of the chromatophore nanorobot (CN). The results from the laminar flow microchip indicated that the obtained CN possessed the strongly positive chemotaxis towards protons. And the TME microchip experiments verified that the CN had a desirable tumor-accumulation ability. Cellular uptake experiments demonstrated that the CN efficiently promoted the endocytosis of the fluorescence DiO into the HT-29 cells. And the in vivo studies revealed that the intravenously administered CN exhibited vigorous tumor-targetability and accumulation ability as well as highly efficient antitumor efficacy. All the results suggested that FOF1-ATPase motors-embedded CN could be promising nanomachines with powerful self-propulsion for overcoming physiological barriers and tumor-targeted drug delivery. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: In this study, we demonstrated that FOF1-ATPase-embedded chromatophore nanorobots exhibit a strong proton chemotaxis, which not only plays a key role in tumor-targetability and accumulation, but also promotes tumor tissue penetration and internalization. The results of in vitro and in vivo studies indicated that drug-loaded chromatophore nanorobots are capable to simultaneously accomplish tumor-targeting, accumulation, penetration and internalization for enhanced tumor therapy. Our study provides a fundamental basis for further study on FOF1-ATPase-embedded chromatophore as tumor-targeting drug delivery systems that have promising clinical applications. It offers a new and more efficient delivery vehicle for cancer related therapeutics.

Natural herb wormwood-based microneedle array for wound healing.

Artemisia argyi, commonly known as wormwood, is a traditional Chinese herbal food and medicine celebrated for its notable antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. This study explores a novel delivery method for wormwood, aiming for more convenient and versatile applications. Specifically, we present the first investigation into combining wormwood with microstructures to create a microneedle (MN) patch for wound healing. The wormwood microneedle (WMN) patch is formulated with milled wormwood sap, calcium carbonate, and sodium hyaluronate. The addition of 0.3% (w/v) sodium hyaluronate enhances the mechanical strength of the WMN patch. Pectin, derived from wormwood, is combined with calcium carbonate to create a gelatinous and solidified substance. The WMN patch exhibits a well-defined shape and sufficient mechanical strength to penetrate the epidermis, as confirmed by our results. In vitro experiments demonstrate the biocompatibility of the WMN patch with fibroblasts and highlight its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Furthermore, the patch facilitates collagen deposition at the wound site. In an excisional rat model, the WMN patch significantly accelerates the wound closure rate compared to the control group. Our findings suggest that the WMN patch has the potential to serve as a natural treatment for wound healing. Additionally, this approach can be extended to other biologically active substances with similar physiochemical characteristics in future applications.

Targeted drug delivery systems for matrix metalloproteinase-responsive anoparticles in tumor cells: A review.

Nanodrug delivery systems based on tumor microenvironment responses have shown excellent performance in tumor-targeted therapy, given their unique targeting and drug-release characteristics. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been widely explored owing to their high specificity and expression in various tumor microenvironments. The design of an enzyme-sensitive nanodelivery system using MMPs as targeted receptors could markedly improve the performance of drug targeting. The current review focuses on the development and application of MMP-responsive drug carriers, and summarizes the classification of single- and multi-target nanocarriers based on their MMP responsiveness. The potential applications and challenges of this nanodrug delivery system are discussed to provide a reference for designing high-performance nanodrug delivery systems.

3D-printed dosage forms for oral administration: a review.

Oral administration is the most commonly used form of treatment due to its advantages, including high patient compliance, convenient administration, and minimal preparation required. However, the traditional preparation process of oral solid preparation has many defects. Although continuous manufacturing line that combined all the unit operations has been developed and preliminarily applied in the pharmaceutical industry, most of the currently used manufacturing processes are still complicated and discontinuous. As a result, these complex production steps will lead to low production efficiency and high quality control risk of the final product. Additionally, the large-scale production mode is inappropriate for the personalized medicines, which commonly is customized with small amount. Several attractive techniques, such as hot-melt extrusion, fluidized bed pelletizing and spray drying, could effectively shorten the process flow, but still, they have inherent limitations that are challenging to address. As a novel manufacturing technique, 3D printing could greatly reduce or eliminate these disadvantages mentioned above, and could realize a desirable continuous production for small-scale personalized manufacturing. In recent years, due to the participation of 3D printing, the development of printed drugs has progressed by leaps and bounds, especially in the design of oral drug dosage forms. This review attempts to summarize the new development of 3D printing technology in oral preparation and also discusses their advantages and disadvantages as well as potential applications.

Synergistic effects of multidrug/material combination deliver system for anti-mutidrug-resistant tumor.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a public health issue of particular concern, for which nanotechnology-based multidrug delivery systems are considered among the most effective suppressive strategies for such resistance in tumors. However, for such strategies to be viable, the notable shortcomings of reduced loading efficiency and uncontrollable drug release ratio need to be addressed. To this end, we developed a novel "multidrug/material" co-delivery system, using d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS, P-gp efflux pump inhibitor) and poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) to fabricate a precursor material with the properties of reversing MDR and having a long-cycle. Further, to facilitate multidrug co-delivery, we loaded doxorubicin(Dox) and curcumin(Cur, cardiotoxicity modifier and P-gp inhibitor) into PAMAM-TPGS nano-micelles respectively, and mixed in appropriate proportions. The multidrug/material co-delivery system thus obtained was characterized by high drug loading and a controllable drug release ratio in the physiological environment. More importantly, in vitro and in vivo pharmacodynamic studies indicated that the multidrug/material co-delivery system facilitated the reversal of MDR. Moreover, the system has increased anti-tumor activity and is biologically safe. We accordingly propose that the "multidrug/material" co-delivery system developed in this study could serve as a potential platform for reversing MDR and achieving safe and effective clinical treatment.

Protein corona, influence on drug delivery system and its improvement strategy: A review.

Nano drug delivery systems offer several benefits, including enhancing drug solubility, regulating drug release, prolonging drug circulation time, and minimized toxicity and side effects. However, upon entering the bloodstream, nanoparticles (NPs) encounter a complex biological environment and get absorbed by various biological components, primarily proteins, leading to the formation of a 'Protein Corona'. The formation of the protein corona is affected by the characteristics of NPs, the physiological environment, and experimental design, which in turn affects of the immunotoxicity, specific recognition, cell uptake, and drug release of NPs. To improve the abundance of a specific protein on NPs, researchers have explored pre-coating, modifying, or wrapping NPs with the cell membrane to reduce protein adsorption. This paper, we have reviewed studies of the protein corona in recent years, summarized the formation and detection methods of the protein corona, the effect of the protein corona composition on the fate of NPs, and the design of new drug delivery systems based on the optimization of protein corona to provide a reference for further study of the protein corona and a theoretical basis for the clinical transformation of NPs.

Photopolymerizable, immunomodulatory hydrogels of gelatin methacryloyl and carboxymethyl chitosan as all-in-one strategic dressing for wound healing.

Microenvironment regeneration in wound tissue is crucial for wound healing. However, achieving desirable wound microenvironment regeneration involves multiple stages, including hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. Traditional wound dressings face challenges in fully manipulating all these stages to achieve quick and complete wound healing. Herein, we present a VEGF-loaded, versatile wound dressing hydrogel based on gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS), which could be easily fabricated using UV irradiation. The newly designed GelMA-CMCS@VEGF hydrogel not only exhibited strong tissue adhesion capacity due to the interactions between CMCS active groups and biological tissues, but also possessed desirable extensible properties for frequently moving skins and joints. Furthermore, the hydrogel demonstrates exceptional abilities in blood cell coagulation, hemostasis and cell recruitment, leading to the promotion of endothelial cells proliferation, adhesion, migration and angiogenesis. Additionally, in vivo studies demonstrated that the hydrogel drastically shortened hemostatic time, and achieved satisfactory therapeutic efficacy by suppressing inflammation, modulating M1/M2 polarization of macrophages, significantly promoting collagen deposition, stimulating angiogenesis, epithelialization and tissue remodeling. This work contributes to the design of versatile hydrogel dressings for rapid and complete wound healing therapy.

Escherichia coli Nissle 1917-driven microrobots for effective tumor targeted drug delivery and tumor regression.

Potent tumor regression remains challenging due to the lack of effective targeted drug delivery into deep tumors as well as the reduced susceptibility of cancer cells to anticancer agents in hypoxic environments. Bacteria-driven drug-delivery systems are promising carriers in overcoming targeting and diffusion limits that are inaccessible for conventional antitumor drugs. In this study, probiotic facultative anaerobe Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) was functionalized and formed self-propelled microrobots to actively deliver therapeutic drug and photosensitizer to the deep hypoxic regions of tumors. Doxorubicin (Dox) was firstly modified with cis-aconityl anhydride (CA) and terminal thiol-decorated hydrazone derivative (Hyd-SH) through dual pH-sensitive amide and imine bonds, respectively. The functionalized CA-Dox-Hyd-SH was further coordinated with photosensitizer gold nanorods (AuNRs) and then conjugated to the surface of EcN. The resulting microrobots (EcN-Dox-Au) inherited the mobility characteristics and bioactivity of native EcN. Upon the irradiation of NIR laser, the microrobots exhibited enhanced tumor accumulation and penetration into the deep hypoxia tumor site. Strikingly, after 21 days of treatment with EcN-Dox-Au formulations, complete tumor regression was achieved without relapse for at least 53 days. This self-propelled strategy utilizing bacteria-driven microrobots provides a promising paradigm for enhancing drug penetration and elevating chemosensitivity, resulting in a superior antitumor effect. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Self-propelled Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) - mediated microrobots are functionalized to co-deliver therapeutic drugs and photosensitizers to the deep tumor site. Anti-tumor drug doxorubicin (Dox) was modified through dual pH-sensitive bonds on both terminals and then linked with EcN and photosensitizer gold nanorods (AuNRs) to realize tumor microenvironment acidic pH-responsive drug release. Upon irradiation with a NIR laser near the tumor site, AuNRs produced a photothermal effect which realized the superficial tumor thermal ablation and increased the permeability of the tumor cell membrane to facilitate the penetration of microrobots. Moreover, the deep penetration of microrobots also enhanced the susceptibility of the cancer cells to Dox, and realized the complete tumor regression in the established breast cancer-bearing mice without recurrence using a lower dose of drug regimen.

FOF1-ATPase Motor-Embedded Chromatophore as Drug Delivery System: Extraction, Cargo Loading Ability and Mucus Penetration Ability.

Mucosal drug delivery permits direct and prompt drug absorption, which is capable of reducing undesirable decomposition that occurs before absorption. However, mucus clearance of those mucosal drug delivery systems strongly retards their actual application. Herein, we propose chromatophore nanoparticles embedded with FOF1-ATPase motors to promote mucus penetration. The FOF1-ATPase motor-embedded chromatophores were firstly extracted from Thermus thermophilus by using a gradient centrifugation method. Then, the model drug (curcumin) was loaded onto the chromatophores. The drug loading efficiency and entrapment efficiency were optimized by using different loading approaches. The activity, motility, stability and mucus permeation of the drug-loaded chromatophore nanoparticles were thoroughly investigated. Both the in vitro and in vivo studies revealed that the FOF1-ATPase motor-embedded chromatophore successfully enhanced mucus penetration glioma therapy. This study indicates that the FOF1-ATPase motor-embedded chromatophore is a promising alternative as a mucosal drug delivery system.

Three-Dimensional-Printed Oral Films Based on LCD: Influence Factors of the Film Printability and Received Qualities.

As an oral mucosal drug delivery system, oral films have been of wide concern in recent years because of their advantages such as rapid absorption, being easy to swallow and avoiding the first-pass effect common for mucoadhesive oral films. However, the currently utilized manufacturing approaches including solvent casting have many limitations, such as solvent residue and difficulties in drying, and are not suitable for personalized customization. To solve these problems, the present study utilizes liquid crystal display (LCD), a photopolymerization-based 3D printing technique, to fabricate mucoadhesive films for oral mucosal drug delivery. The designed printing formulation includes PEGDA as the printing resin, TPO as the photoinitiator, tartrazine as the photoabsorber, PEG 300 as the additive and HPMC as the bioadhesive material. The influence of printing formulation and printing parameters on the printing formability of the oral films were elucidated in depth, and the results suggested that PEG 300 in the formulation not only provided the necessary flexibility of the printed oral films, but also improved drug release rate due to its role as pore former in the produced films. The presence of HPMC could greatly improve the adhesiveness of the 3D-printed oral films, but excessive HPMC increased the viscosity of the printing resin solution, which could strongly hinder the photo-crosslinking reaction and reduce printability. Based on the optimized printing formulation and printing parameters, the bilayer oral films containing a backing layer and an adhesive layer were successfully printed with stable dimensions, adequate mechanical properties, strong adhesion ability, desirable drug release and efficient in vivo therapeutic efficacy. All these results indicated that an LCD-based 3D printing technique is a promising alternative to precisely fabricate oral films for personalized medicine.

3D-printed morphology-customized microneedles: Understanding the correlation between their morphologies and the received qualities.

Despite remarkable progress in the last decade in transdermal microneedle drug delivery systems, great difficulties in precisely manufacturing microneedles with sophisticated microstructures still strongly retard their practical applications. Herein we propose morphology-customized microneedles (spiral, conical, cylindroid, ring-like, arrow-like and tree-like) fabricated by stereolithography (SLA) based 3D-printing technique, and in-depth investigate the correlation between the customized morphologies and the received qualities of the corresponding microneedles such as the mechanical properties and skin penetration behavior, drug loading capacity and the drug release profiles. Results indicated that 3D-printed morphology-customized microneedles not only enhanced the mechanical strength but also improved both drug loading capacity and drug release behavior, which resulted from their highly controllable and 3D-printable morphologies (surface area and volume). And the in vivo study demonstrated that the 3D-printed morphology-customized microneedles successfully promoted the transdermal delivery of the loaded drug (verapamil hydrochloride) with an enhanced therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of hypertrophic scar.

FOF1-ATP synthase molecular motor biosensor for miRNA detection of colon cancer.

AIMS: To establish a FOF1-ATP synthase molecular motor biosensor to accurately identify colon cancer miRNAs. MAIN METHODS: The FOF1-ATP synthase molecular motor is extracted by fragmentation-centrifugation and connected to the colon cancer-specific miR-17 capture probe in the manner of the ε subunit-biotin-streptavidin-biotin system. Signal probes are designed for dual-signal characterization to increase detection accuracy. The FOF1-ATPase rotation rate decreases when the signaling and capture probes are combined with the target miRNA, resulting in a decrease in ATP synthesis. miR-17 concentrations are determined by changes in ATP-mediated chemiluminescence intensity and signal probe-mediated OD450nm. KEY FINDINGS: The chemiluminescence intensity and OD450nm show a good linear relationship with the miR-17 concentration in the range of 5 to 200 nmol L-1 (R2 = 0.9985, 0.9989). The colon cancer mouse model is established for the blood samples, and miR-17 in serum and RNA extracts is quantitatively determined using the constructed sensor. SIGNIFICANCE: The results are consistent with colon cancer progression, and the low concentration of miR-17 detecting accuracy is comparable to the PCR assay. In conclusion, the developed method is a direct, rapid, and promising method for miRNA detection of colon cancer.

Tumor microenvironment responded naturally extracted FOF1-ATPase loaded chromatophores for antitumor therapy.

Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an important role in the growth, invasion, and metastasis of tumor cells. The pH of TME is more acidic in solid tumors than in normal tissues. Although targeted delivery in TME has progressed, the complex and expensive construction of delivery systems has limited their application. FOF1-ATP synthase (FOF1-ATPase) is a rotation molecular motor found in bacteria, chloroplasts, and mitochondria. Here, FOF1-ATPase loaded chromatophores (chroma) isolated from thermophilic bacteria were extracted and utilized as a new delivery system targeting TME for the first time. Curcumin as model drug was successfully loaded by a filming-rehydration ultrasonic dispersion method to prepare a curcumin-loaded chroma delivery system (Cur-Chroma). The mobility and propensity distributions of Cur-Chroma reveal its specific pH-sensitive targeting driven by the transmembrane proton kinetic potential, demonstrating its distinct distribution in the TME and more favorable targeting delivery. Cellular uptake experiments indicated that Cur-Chroma entered cells through grid pathway-mediated endocytosis. In vivo studies have shown that Cur-Chroma can specifically target tumor tissue and effectively inhibit tumor growth with good safety. Curcumin's bioavailability and anti-tumor effects were significantly improved. These studies demonstrate that ATPase-loaded chromatophores are potentially ideal vehicles for anti-tumor drug delivery and have promising applications.

Gold nanorods-loaded chitosan-based nanomedicine platform enabling an effective tumor regression in vivo.

The clinical utility of 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38) is hampered by its low water solubility and reduced bioactivity at neutral or alkaline conditions. The rational design of an effective drug delivery system that can significantly enhance the therapeutic index of SN-38 and achieve complete tumor regression still remains a challenge. Herein, chitosan-based hybrid nanoparticles system co-loading with chemotherapeutic drug SN-38 and gold nanorods (AuNRs) was engineered for effective combinational photothermal-chemotherapy. To increase the solubility of SN-38, soluble polymeric prodrug poly (l-glutamic acid)-SN38 (l-PGA-SN38) was firstly synthesized and then complexed with chitosan to form stable nanomedicine via a mild and facile way without using any organic solvent or surfactant. Upon introducing AuNRs into chitosan-based nanomedicine by coordination interaction between the amine group of chitosan and AuNRs, the hybrid nanoparticles exhibited distinct synergistic therapeutic effect compared with single chemotherapy or photothermal treatment in vitro and in vivo. Almost complete tumor regression was achieved after 21-day treatment of the developed hybrid nanoparticles and showed no recurrence for at least 60 days.

The Finite Element Analysis Research on Microneedle Design Strategy and Transdermal Drug Delivery System.

Microneedles (MNs) as a novel transdermal drug delivery system have shown great potential for therapeutic and disease diagnosis applications by continually providing minimally invasive, portable, cost-effective, high bioavailability, and easy-to-use tools compared to traditional parenteral administrations. However, microneedle transdermal drug delivery is still in its infancy. Many research studies need further in-depth exploration, such as safety, structural characteristics, and drug loading performance evaluation. Finite element analysis (FEA) uses mathematical approximations to simulate real physical systems (geometry and load conditions). It can simplify complex engineering problems to guide the precise preparation and potential industrialization of microneedles, which has attracted extensive attention. This article introduces FEA research for microneedle transdermal drug delivery systems, focusing on microneedle design strategy, skin mechanics models, skin permeability, and the FEA research on drug delivery by MNs.

Enzyme-responsive nano-drug delivery system for combined antitumor therapy.

Efficient drug loading, tumor targeting, intratumoral penetration, and cellular uptake are the main factors affecting the effectiveness of drug delivery systems in oncotherapy. Based on the tumor microenvironment, we proposed to develop Curcumin (Cur)-loaded matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-responsive nanoparticles (Cur-P-NPs) by static electricity, to enhance tumor targeting, cellular uptake, and drug loading efficiency. These nanoparticles combine the properties of both PEG-peptides (cleaved peptide + penetrating peptide) and star-shaped polyester (DPE-PCL) nanoparticles. Cur-P-NPs displayed good entrapment efficiency, drug loading and biocompatibility. Additionally, they showed an enhanced release rate, cellular uptake, and anti-proliferative activity by activating peptides under the simulated tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, intraperitoneal injection of losartan (LST) successfully enhanced intratumoral drug penetration by collagen I degradation. In vivo studies based on the systematic administration of the synergistic LST + Cur-P-NPs combination to mice confirmed that combined antitumor therapy with LST and Cur-P-NPs could further improve intratumor distribution, enhance anticancer efficacy, and reduce the toxicity and side effects. Therefore, LST + Cur-P-NPs represent a new and efficient system for clinical oncotherapy.

Probiotic Escherichia coli NISSLE 1917 for inflammatory bowel disease applications.

Escherichia coli NISSLE 1917 (EcN) is a Gram-negative strain with many prominent probiotic properties in the treatment of intestinal diseases such as diarrhea and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in particular ulcerative colitis. EcN not only exhibits antagonistic effects on a variety of intestinal pathogenic bacteria, but also regulates the secretion of immune factors in vivo and enhances the ability of host immunity. In this review, the mechanisms of EcN in the remission of inflammatory bowel disease are proposed and recent advances on the functionalized EcN are compiled to provide novel therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of IBD.

Deep eutectic solvents: Recent advances in fabrication approaches and pharmaceutical applications.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have received increasing attention in the past decade owing to their distinguished properties including biocompatibility, tunability, thermal and chemical stability. Particularly, DESs have joined forces in pharmaceutical industry, not only to efficiently separate actives from natural products, but also to dramatically increase solubility and permeability of drugs, both are critical for the drug absorption and efficacy. As a result, lately DESs have been extensively and practically adopted as versatile drug delivery systems for different routes such as nasal, transdermal and oral administration with enhanced bioavailability. This review summarizes the emerging progress of DESs by introducing applied fabrication approaches with advantages and limitations thereof, and by highlighting the pharmaceutical applications of DESs.