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Pharmaceutics
Special Issues
Amphiphilic Compounds and Biomolecules: A Platform for New Challenges
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Amphiphilic Compounds and Biomolecules: A Platform for New Challenges

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2020) | Viewed by 4831

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giulia Bonacucina

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Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Via Gentile III da Varano, Camerino, MC, Italy
Interests: drug delivery systems; colloids; hydrogels; thermogelling systems; mucoadhesion; surfactants; rheology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Diego Romano Perinelli

E-Mail
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Via Gentile III da Varano, Camerino, MC, Italy
Interests: surfactants; self-assembling; liposomes; nanoparticles; calorimetric techniques, ultrasound spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Amphiphiles are a class of compounds comprising a large variety of structures of different natures, including synthetic surfactants and amphiphilic copolymers or peptides. The interaction of amphiphiles with biomolecules as proteins, peptides, nucleic acids, lipids, and sugars has represented a flourishing field of research in several areas including surface biophysics, biochemistry, and drug delivery. Despite the never-ending interest in some ”traditional” issues (e.g., surfactants interactions with biomembranes), new aspects relating to this subject have been emerging (e.g., stabilizing effect of surfactants on biomolecules). These advances could change the scenario of the field and open new avenues for the development of the interdisciplinary research. The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect the recent findings to support the formation of a platform for new challenges in this field.

The subtopics to be covered within this Issue include the investigation of the interaction of amphiphilic compounds at the biointerfaces and biomembrane, the effect of amphiphiles on biomacromolecules self-assembling, the chemical-physical characterization of amphiphile-based or mixed colloidal systems, the development of new amphiphilic compounds, and the investigation of amphiphilic compounds as drug carriers for therapeutic proteins or peptides.

We invite experts from academia or industry to contribute to this Special Issue with original research articles, reviews, or commentaries.

Dr. Giulia Bonacucina
Dr. Diego Romano Perinelli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Surfactants
  • Amphiphilic polymers
  • Amphiphilic peptides Biointerfaces
  • Drug delivery
  • Self-assembling
  • Membrane interactions
  • Biomacromolecules

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 4116 KiB  
Article
Quercetin Loaded Monolaurate Sugar Esters-Based Niosomes: Sustained Release and Mutual Antioxidant—Hepatoprotective Interplay
by Enas Elmowafy, Marwa O. El-Derany, Francesca Biondo, Mattia Tiboni, Luca Casettari and Mahmoud E. Soliman
Pharmaceutics 2020, 12(2), 143; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12020143 - 09 Feb 2020
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 4149
Abstract
Flavonoids possess different interesting biological properties, including antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. However, unfortunately, these molecules present different bottlenecks, such as low aqueous solubility, photo and oxidative degradability, high first-pass effect, poor intestinal absorption and, hence, low systemic bioavailability. A variety of [...] Read more.
Flavonoids possess different interesting biological properties, including antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. However, unfortunately, these molecules present different bottlenecks, such as low aqueous solubility, photo and oxidative degradability, high first-pass effect, poor intestinal absorption and, hence, low systemic bioavailability. A variety of delivery systems have been developed to circumvent these drawbacks, and among them, in this work niosomes have been selected to encapsulate the hepatoprotective natural flavonoid quercetin. The aim of this study was to prepare nanosized quercetin-loaded niosomes, formulated with different monolaurate sugar esters (i.e., sorbitan C12; glucose C12; trehalose C12; sucrose C12) that act as non-ionic surfactants and with cholesterol as stabilizer (1:1 and 2:1 ratio). Niosomes were characterized under the physicochemical, thermal and morphological points of view. Moreover, after the analyses of the in vitro biocompatibility and the drug-release profile, the hepatoprotective activity of the selected niosomes was evaluated in vivo, using the carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Furthermore, the levels of glutathione and glutathione peroxidase (GSH and GPX) were measured. Based on results, the best formulation selected was glucose laurate/cholesterol at molar ratio of 1:1, presenting spherical shape and a particle size (PS) of 161 ± 4.6 nm, with a drug encapsulation efficiency (EE%) as high as 83.6 ± 3.7% and sustained quercetin release. These niosomes showed higher hepatoprotective effect compared to free quercetin in vivo, measuring serum biomarker enzymes (i.e., alanine and aspartate transaminases (ALT and AST)) and serum biochemical parameters (i.e., alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total proteins), while following the histopathological investigation. This study confirms the ability of quercetin loaded niosomes to reverse CCl4 intoxication and to carry out an antioxidant effect. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Amphiphilic Compounds and Biomolecules: A Platform for New Challenges)
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