Fabrication and characterization of itraconazole loaded anisotropic solid lipid-mannitol microstructures for enhanced antifungal activity.

Anisotropic microparticles containing flower like morphologies have recently attracted significant attention due to their potentially varied application range. Aim of the present work was to build an anisotropic drug delivery system (ASLMMSs) for the encapsulation and enhancement of antifungal activity of a hydrophobic antifungal drug i.e. itraconazole (IRL) with the combination of lipophilic (lipids) as well as hydrophilic (mannitol) materials. Encapsulation efficiency (EE) due to glyceryl monosteatrate (G.ASLMMSs) was 89.02%, whereas Precirol ATO5 formulation (P.ASLMMSs) showed 96.98% EE. FTIR analysis discovered the hydrogen bonding and Vander Waal's forces between lipids and mannitol, while evaluation of XRD data revealed the detailed structural and microstructural characterization indicating the crystallinity of final formulations. Observation under SEM revealed that the final formulations grew in the form of flower like morphologies. These flower-like structures were more obvious for P.ASLMMSs. The increment in dissolution rate (>80% in 6h) could be attributed to the mannitol. Dilutions of Itraconazole loaded anisotropic solid lipid mannitol microstructures (ASLMMSs) in water at concentration range of (500µg/mL, 250µg/mL, 125µg/mL and 75µg/mL) exhibited increased antifungal activity, while free IRL dilution in water showed no zone of inhibition. Both formulations, specifically P.ASLMMSs could signify a promising drug delivery system for lipophilic antifungal drugs.

Moxifloxacin loaded nanoparticles of disulfide bridged thiolated chitosan-eudragit RS100 for controlled drug delivery.

The aim of our study was to prepare nanoparticles of disulfide bridged thiolated chitosan and eudragit RS100 using the air oxidation method for controlled drug delivery. The developed nanoparticles were characterized by FTIR, DSC, TGA, zeta sizer, zeta potential, SEM and 1H NMR. The loading, entrapment efficiency and in-vitro release of moxifloxacin from nanoparticles was determined. Toxicity was studied using Caco-2 cell line and pharmacokinetics of moxifloxacin from the developed nanoparticles was studied in albino rats. The FTIR analysis showed no chemical interaction of the drug with the thiolated polymers. The DSC and TGA showed the thermal stability of nanoparticles. The average particle size of nanoparticles was 87 nm, zeta potential of NTC3 was ± 19 and SEM showed the spherical shape of nanoparticles. The 1H NMR spectra confirmed the structure of thiolated chitosan and eudragit RS100. The loading, encapsulation efficiency and release of moxifloxacin from NTC3 were 100.3%, 89.67% and 88.49% respectively. The nanoparticles in culture medium did not affect the viability of Caco-2 cells. The NTC3 formulation showed a greater bioavailability of moxifloxacin compared to the reference formulation. The study reports a convenient and effective way to prepare a chitosan and eudragit RS100 based drug delivery system with a controlled release pattern.

A highly efficient ligation-independent cloning system for CRISPR/Cas9 based genome editing in plants.

BACKGROUND: Most current methods for constructing guide RNAs (gRNA) for the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, depend on traditional cloning using specific type IIS restriction enzymes and DNA ligation. These methods consist of multiple steps of cloning, and are time consuming, resource intensive and not flexible. These issues are particularly exacerbated when multiple guide RNAs need to be assembled in one plasmid such as for multiplexing or for the paired nickases approach. Furthermore, identification of functional gRNA clones usually requires expensive in vitro screening. Addressing these issues will greatly facilitate usage and accessibility of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system to resource-limited laboratories. RESULTS: To improve efficiency of cloning multiple guide RNAs for the CRISPR/Cas9 system, we developed a restriction enzyme- and ligation-independent strategy for cloning gRNAs directly in plant expression vectors in one step. Our method relies on a negative selection marker and seamless cloning for combining multiple gRNAs directly in a plant expression vector in one reaction. In addition, using the Agrobacterium-mediated transient assays, this method provides a simple in planta procedure for assaying the effectiveness of multiple gRNAs very rapidly. CONCLUSIONS: For a fraction of resources used in the type IIS restriction enzyme-based cloning method and in vitro screening assays, the system reported here allows efficient construction and testing several ready-to-transfect gRNA constructs in < 3 days. In addition, this system is highly versatile and flexible, and by designing only two additional target-specific primers, multiple gRNAs can be easily assembled in any plasmid in a single reaction.

The Roles of Aquaporins in Plant Stress Responses.

Aquaporins are membrane channel proteins ubiquitously present in all kingdoms of life. Although aquaporins were originally discovered as water channels, their roles in the transport of small neutral solutes, gasses, and metal ions are now well established. Plants contain the largest number and greatest diversity of aquaporin homologs with diverse subcellular localization patterns, gating properties, and solute specificity. The roles of aquaporins in physiological functions throughout plant growth and development are well known. As an integral regulator of plant-water relations, they are presumed to play an important role in plant defense responses against biotic and abiotic stressors. This review highlights involvement of various aquaporin homologs in plant stress responses against a variety of environmental stresses that disturb plant cell osmotic balance and nutrient homeostasis.