Phospholipid and menthol based nanovesicle impregnated transdermal patch for nutraceutical delivery to diminish folate and iron deficiency.

Adequate micronutrient availability is particularly important in women, children and infants. Micronutrient deficiencies are the major cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity. To overcome this, WHO recommends the use of folic acid and iron supplements for reducing anaemia and improving the health of the mother and infants. Oral intake of supplements for nutritional deficiencies are associated with gastric irritation, nausea, constipation and non-patient compliance due to associated taste. In case of absorption deficiency nutrients administered orally pass-through digestive tract unabsorbed. In the present study, we propose transdermal delivery of nutraceuticals to avoid the limitations associated with oral intake. Transdermal delivery has limited use because of the closely packed barrier of the stratum corneum that limits the permeability of molecules across skin. Here, we have used biomimetic nanovesicles impregnated in transdermal patches for delivery of folic acid and iron. Nanovesicles are prepared using an abundant component of cell membrane, phosphatidyl choline and a permeation enhancer. Further these nanovesicles are impregnated onto polyacrylate based transdermal patch.In vitrostudies have shown the ability of nanovesicles to fluidise skin lipids and penetrate into deeper skin.In vivoapplication of transdermal patches gradually increased the systemic concentration of nutraceuticals. Post application of the patch, five-fold increase in plasma folic acid concentration and 1.5-fold increase in plasma iron concertation was achieved in 6 h. Developed nanovesicles were compatible with keratinocytes and fibroblasts as testedin vitroand have the potential to enhance the cellular uptake of molecules. Skin irritation studies on human volunteers have confirmed the safety of nutraceutical loaded nanovesicles. Thus, the developed nutraceutical loaded transdermal patches provide a potential, easy to use platform for micronutrient delivery in infants and mothers.

Curcumin Encapsulated Lecithin Nanoemulsions: An Oral Platform for Ultrasound Mediated Spatiotemporal Delivery of Curcumin to the Tumor.

Systemic toxicity caused by conventional chemotherapy is often regarded as one of the major challenges in the treatment of cancer. Over years, the trigger-based modality has gained much attention as it holds the spatiotemporal control over release and internalization of the drug. In this article, we are reporting an increase in the anti-tumor efficacy of curcumin due to ultrasound pulses. MDA MB 231 breast cancer and B16F10 melanoma cells were incubated with lecithin-based curcumin encapsulated nanoemulsions and exposed to ultrasound in the presence and absence of microbubble. Ultrasound induced sonoporation enhanced the cytotoxicity of curcumin in MDA MB 231 and B16F10 cancer cells in the presence of microbubble by 100- and 64-fold, respectively. To study the spatiotemporal delivery of curcumin, we developed B16F10 melanoma subcutaneous tumor on both the flanks of C57BL/6 mice but only the right tumor was exposed to ultrasound. Insonation of the right tumor spatially enhanced the cytotoxicity and enabled the substantial regression of the right tumor compared to the unexposed left tumor which grew continuously in size. This study showed that the ultrasound has the potential to target and increase the drug's throughput to the tumor and enable effective treatment.