Novel berberine-loaded hyalurosomes as a promising nanodermatological treatment for vitiligo: Biochemical, biological and gene expression studies.

Vitiligo is a depigmentation disorder that affects 0.5-2% of the world population. It has a severe impact on a patient's quality of life and even causes suicidal attempts. Up to date, no curative therapy is available which have created a substantial demand for novel vitiligo treatments. Berberine (BRB) is an isoquinoline alkaloid with promising pharmacological effects. However, it suffers from poor membrane permeability hindering its topical application. The current work is the first to design and assess topical BRB-loaded hyalurosomes for targeted vitiligo treatment. BRB-hyalurosomes are hyaluronan-immobilized phospholipid nanovesicles that showed promising invitro physicochemical properties. Novel ex vivo studies were performed using full-thickness human skin to mimic its dermal application. Furthermore, in-vivo studies were conducted using a vitiligo-induced mouse model followed by biochemical, histological and immunohistochemical investigations. In addition, gene expression of skin inflammatory markers was assessed using quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. Biological studies showed significant improvement of the biochemical markers in BRB-hyalurosomes group compared to the vitiligo-model group and BRB conventional gel. It is worthy to mention that placebo hyalurosomes demonstrated significant enhancement in the biological activity confirming its intrinsic activity. Conclusively, BRB-hyalurosomes is considered a novel nanodermatological tool that paving the way for its clinical application for vitiligo treatment.

Dual prophylactic/therapeutic potential of date seed, and nigella and olive oils-based nutraceutical formulation in rats with experimentally-induced Alzheimer's disease: A mechanistic insight.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with a multifactorial etiology and significantly increasing incidence during the last decade. Hence, developing an effective therapy is crucial for public health. The current study aimed to examine the dual prophylactic/therapeutic potential of a nutraceutical formula based on aqueous extract of roasted date seeds, and nigella and virgin-olive oils against experimentally-induced Alzheimer's disease in rats. Alzheimer's disease-like pathology was induced in male Wistar rats using oral CuSO4 (200 mg/Kg/day for two months). The nutraceutical formula was given orally to experimental animals (10 mL/kg/d) for 14 days before (as prophylaxis) and after Alzheimer's disease induction and its therapeutic effect in both cases is tested in comparison to donepezil (0.5 mg/kg/d). The nutraceutical formula was found to ameliorate the CuSO4-induced neuronal damage and regenerate the affected hippocampus tissue and significantly improvemed in learning ability. The formula was also effective in decreasing brain amyloid-ß, tau protein, TNF-α level, iNOS level in hippocampus, oxidative stress level, and inhibiting acetylcholinesterase activity and expression in brain and hippocampus, respectively. Further, an increase in GSH levels, activities of SOD, and GST and levels of hippocampus ADAM 17 and brain phospholipids was observed. In conclusion, the studied nutraceutical formula is proved to be effective in ameliorating Alzheimer's neurodegenerative progression with added-prophylactic potential.

Effect of Nigella sativa oil on experimental toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii protozoon. It is most commonly treated by pyrimethamine (PYR); however, this was intolerable by many patients. The aim of this study was to assess therapeutic effects of Nigella sativa oil (NSO) alone and combined with pyrimethamine (PYR) compared to a previous combination of clindamycin (CLN) and (PYR). One hundred Albino mice were used in the current study and were equally divided into five groups: normal (I), infected untreated control (II); infected, treated with NSO-only (III); infected, treated with NSO + PYR (IV); and infected, treated with CLN + PYR (V). The virulent RH Toxoplasma strain was used in infection survival rates estimation, impression smears from liver and spleen, and histopathological and ultrastructural studies were done. Liver malondialdehyde (MDA) level and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were determined. Interferon-γ and specific IgM were also measured in sera by ELISA. Results showed that NSO alone has no direct anti-Toxoplasma effect, whereas its combination with PYR produced potent effect that is comparable to CLN + PYR. It significantly increased the survival rate and decreased the parasite density and pathological insult in both liver and spleen. Also, significant increase in interferon-γ level denotes stimulation of cellular immunity. NSO + PYR combination markedly improved the antioxidant capacity of Toxoplasma infected mice compared to the infected untreated ones and to CLN/PYR. In conclusion, although NSO, if administered alone, has significant immunostimulant and antioxidant properties, it failed to decrease tachyzoite counts. Combination of NSO and PYR had synergistic effect in treatment of toxoplasmosis.