Nanomedicine Research Journal
Volume:7 Issue: 2, Spring 2022

An implant is a device for replacing a damaged or deformed joint, bone, or cartilage. Considering the aging population and developing culture of active lifestyles, orthopedic and dental implants have found their stance as a fundamental component of medical sector, which is envisioned to be continuous. Reducing the rate of failures, particularly in cases of bacterial infection, is a necessity for meeting the extending demands for implants. One of the major risk factors of this field is implant infection, which can reduce the effectiveness of treatment, as well as increase the need for corrective surgery or extend the chances of mortality. Traditional antibiotics are incapable of providing the desired effects due to the difficulties of bacterial resistance. The exertion of nanotechnology-based approaches can overcome most of the limitations and obstacles of implants. Nanostructures and nanoparticles can facilitate the production of implant coatings, provide suitable materials for making implants, and function as carriers for the release of antibiotics. There are a number of different nanostructures available for this purpose. Nanoparticles and microstructures contain a larger number of effective bactericidal properties than smooth surfaces due to their significantly increased level of adhesion. This study attempted to investigate the antibacterial properties of nanoparticles in dental and orthopedic implants.

Oral cancer has affected the health of people by causing an unacceptable high rate of mortality and has the sixth place among the most common types of malignant cancer. In addition, the /available clinical approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, surgery, and chemoradiotherapy) proved to have a long way to reach an ideal state. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the discovery of effective and feasible early diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in regards to oral cancer. The distinctive features of nanotechnology and nanoparticles, such as small size, surface to volume ratio, etc. that induce many changes in electrical, optical, and magnetic properties, can help in providing early detection and designing a more applicable treatment. Although surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are included among the most common treatments of oral cancer, yet there are disadvantages to their usage that indicate the need for novel methods with superior therapeutic benefits. One of the new approaches in this field is phototherapy-based therapies that involve photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) as the major methods. Despite their advantages, some of the limited potentials of these therapies can be possibly surpassed through the application of nanotechnology.

Leishmaniasis is a global disease that poses a threat to human life and is associated with complications. Current medications have limitations due to serious side effects, costs and drug resistance. Nanotechnology has received increased attention in recent years, owing to its extensive range of applications in various fields including parasitology and its inherent therapeutic properties. This study was designed to assess the effects of chitosan and chitosan-ZnO nanocomposite interventions on Leishmania major. In this study, different concentrations of the nanocomposite were prepared (200, 100, 50 and 25 µg/mL), the parasite was cultured at 24, 48 and 72 h intervals and the viability of promastigotes and nanocomposite toxicity were evaluated by MTT assay. IC50 was determined by counting parasites. The inhibitory effect of the chitosan and nanocomposite were compared with standard drugs using different concentrations. The IC50 for nanocomposite after 72 hours were 50 and 10 µg/mL for promastigotes and amastigotes, respectively. In addition, 15% toxicity of nanocomposite on macrophage cells was found. The MTT assay showed 18.54 % promastigote viability after 72 h exposure to 200 µg/mL concentration of nanocomposite. Results showed significant differences between treatment groups as compared to control groups. The above nanocomposites showed low toxicity and anti-leishmanial effects on both promastigote and amastigote forms. This study revealed anti-leishmanial activities of nanocomposites but further study is needed for in vivo evaluation of nanocomposites application for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

In this study, we prepared methotrexate (MTX) loaded chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers using electrospinning method. The prepared nanofiber mats were soaked into the glutaraldehyde solution for crosslinking. The ratio of chitosan/PVA was 1:9 and 1:7, and the crosslinking time was 24 hrs and 36 hrs. In vitro release study was performed on four formulations of nanofibers. Determination of contact angle, SEM, and MTT assay on U-87 MG cell line and MCF-7 cell line were carried out by those formulations of nanofibers. SEM images showed that the average fiber diameter was 221 nm with a range of 94–410 nm and also water contact angle was 24.3o. In vitro release profile of nanofibers with the ratio of chitosan/PVA of 1:9 and crosslinking time of 36 hrs was more acceptable compared to other ones. After 24 hrs, Chitosan/PVA nanofibers mat containing MTX had 18% and 20% cytotoxicity on U87MG and MCF7 cell lines, respectively. In conclusion, MTX loaded chitosan/PVA nanofibers would be an appropriate therapeutics implant for cancer therapy; however, more studies are also needed.

In recent years, the attention of many was focused on the features of the Green Synthesis process, such as its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and environmental friendliness. This study investigates the feasibility of manufacturing silver nanoparticles from Malva sylvestris L aqueous extract and evaluates its anti-cancer effect on ovarian cancer cell lines OVCAR-3 and SK-OV-3.  The aqueous extract of Malva sylvestris L proved to be capable of synthesizing silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) and the success of the procedure was affirmed through the results of characterizing analyzes such as UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Additionally, we assessed the anti-cancer impacts of synthesized Ag-NPs on OVCAR-3 and SK-OV-3 cell lines by the means of MTT assay. The Bax, Bcl-2, caspase 3, and caspase 8 expression at mRNA levels were also estimated using real-time PCR. The appearance of an absorption peak at 462 nm using a spectrophotometer signified the complete synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The electron microscope images showed that the nanoparticles were spherical and had an average size of about 74.4 nm. Ag-NPs at the concentration (10-200nM) inhibited the proliferation of OVCAR-3 and SK-OV-3 cell lines. Moreover, treatment resulted in down-regulating Bcl-2 while up-regulating Bax and caspase 3 and caspase 8 expression. In this study, synthesized Ag-NPs using Malva sylvestris L could induce a robust anti-cancer effect on ovarian cells in vitro by improving Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and triggering the apoptosis pathway.

This paper presented the green synthesis of pure and 5% zinc doped cerium oxide nanoparticles (Zn-CeO2 NPs) by using the root extract of Prosopis farcta. Green synthesis is a method of synthesizing nanoparticles without the use of chemical solvents and is environmentally friendly and safe.The physic-chemical properties of the obtained nanoparticles were studied through the results of PXRD, UV-Vis, DRS, FESEM, EDX, and Raman techniques. The outcomes of EDX and PXRD confirmed the presence of doped zinc in the structure of cerium oxide. The particle sizes of pure and Zn-CeO2 NPs were 20 and 8 nm. Additionally, we evaluated the cytotoxic performance of synthesized nanoparticles on brain glioblastoma cells (U87), which resulted in displaying the stronger toxic effect of zinc doped nanoparticle when compared to pure cerium oxide nanoparticles. Therefore, it is indicated that zinc doped cerium oxide nanoparticles are capable of exhibiting a superior anti-cancer impact on U87 cells.

In recent years, great attention towards alternative antitumor and antibacterial therapies such as antibacterial photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been raised. The development of nanotechnology has opened wide opportunities for the creation of new multifunctional hybrid multicomponent nanosystems with high potential for PDT applications. In particular, those are the Photosensitizer / Polymer / Metal nanoparticles nanosystems containing the photosensitizer as a drug, polymer as a drug nanocarrier, and metal nanoparticles as an enhancer of drug efficiency. The Zinc TetraPhenylPorphyrin photosensitizer / Dextran-graft-PolyAcrylAmide copolymer / Au NanoParticles (ZnTPP/D-g-PAA/AuNPs) triple hybrid nanosystem were synthesized in water solution as a nanodrug for potential use in PDT applications. Dynamic light scattering has proved the aggregation and sedimentation stability of this system during several days after preparation. The absorption and fluorescence spectra of ZnTPP/D-g-PAA/AuNPs water solution have proved the binding of ZnTPP molecules with both D-g-PAA and D-g-PAA/AuNPs macromolecules.  The gold concentration of 0.005 mg/mL was shown to be optimal providing the highest plasmonic enhancement of the electronic processes involving the ZnTPP photosensitizer. The 3.2 times enhancement of singlet oxygen photogeneration under resonant with localized surface plasmon wavelength excitation has been detected for ZnTPP/D-g-PAA/AuNPs that proves the plasmonic origin of such phenomenon. The high bactericidal efficiency of ZnTPP/D-g-PAA/AuNPs water solution at 530 nm light irradiation was revealed for wild strains of Staphylococcus aureus.  These data indicate that ZnTPP/D-g-PAA/AuNPs hybrid nanosystem is quite promising for rapid antibacterial photodynamic therapy, the open wounds in particular.

Exosomes, as membrane-enclosed nanovesicles (30–150 nm), transports active biomolecules between various cells. As natural nanoparticles (NP), they serve a key role in the diagnosis, treatment, as well as prevention of diseases. Recently it has been verified that MSC-derived exosomes are capable of adjusting immune cells' biological processes. We investigated the effects of the MSCs-derived exosome on T cell proliferation.

xosomes isolated from the supernatant of bone marrow-MSC. The ultrastructure and shape of exosomes were evaluated via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and CD9, CD63, and CD81 were detected by Western blotting. Then, we examined the effects of MSC-derived exosome on the proliferation of the T cells by MTT assay. Moreover, the expression levels of the PI3K, Akt, MAPK, and ERK were estimated at mRNA levels by Real-Time PCR. 

We showed that MSCs-derived exosome inhibited T cell proliferation based on the MTT assay results. Real-time PCR analysis also exhibited that exosome co-culture resulted in down-regulation of PI3K, Akt, MAPK, and ERK expression levels.

MSCs-derived exosome inhibits T cell proliferation by negative regulation of the survival- and proliferation-involved PI3K/Akt and MAPK/ERK pathway in vitro.

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) are among the most widely used nanomaterials in the world. Nanotoxicological data on these additives remain unclear. The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vivo effects of Ag-NPs bioaccumulation on the hematological cells of adult zebrafish Danio rerio after three weeks of oral exposure. Four concentrations of Ag-NPs (65 nm nanosphere), are used: control group 1 (0.00 g/kg of food), group 2 (0.05 g/kg of food), group 3 (5 g/kg of food) and group 4 (50 g/kg of food). The experiment is conducted in triplicate. Cytological and histological results show, a significant increase in neutrophils associated with a significant decrease in lymphocytes in both group 3 and 4 compared to the control group (p<0,05 and p<0,005, respectively). This reflects an elevated neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), suggesting a biased immune response associated with hyperplasia of the hematopoietic tissue and histopathological images of nephrological lesions, following medium to high dose of Ag-NPs intake. Besides, microscopic observation of cell morphology revealed lymphocyte activation only in groups 2 and 3 (p<0,005 and p<0,05, respectively). These results suggest that Ag-NPs induce a dose-dependent bioeffects on the immune system in zebrafish. This study reports that at low doses, Ag-NPs may activate lymphocytes but do not alter the NLR, thus demonstrating an immunostimulatory effect. The present investigation is the first study, as far as we know, reporting that Ag-NPs induce a dose-dependent immunomodulation in zebrafish.

In this study, the purpose of this study was to fabricate a porous nanocomposite chitosan-gelatin along with different weight percentages of bioglass using the freeze-drying method. In this study, the Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) technique was used for the first time to strengthen bone grafting. Tensile strength, elastic modulus, and percentage of porosity were evaluated. Also, the samples were examined in simulated body fluid (SBF) and phosphate buffer saline (PBS) to study bone growth and bone dissolution rate.  Also, the porosity percentage was about 54% with 39% bone-like apatite formation for the third sample. The early absorption and late absorption rate of bone substitutes and the main volume of bone substitutes can be used for orthopedic approaches. The specimen were abalysized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) technique. Porous membranes were examined under SEM tools to estimate pore size and morphological behavior. The pore diameter can be controlled by adjusting the ethanol percentage in the range of 10-30 micrometers. The formation of needle bioglass crystals on the membrane surface after 7 days of immersion in biological solution was also evaluated using SEM images. In general, the third sample can be used to repair the bone tissue of the knee with the PRP technique.