Sharif Digital Repository

Solid-phase microextraction probes based on poly(ethylene glycol)/C18-bonded silica were used for in vivo monitoring of drugs from circulating blood of beagles, over a period of 8 h. After sampling, the extracted drugs were subsequently quantified by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. External calibrations in whole blood and phosphate-buffered saline were used to correlate the amount of analytes extracted in regard to the total and free concentrations in blood respectively. The probe provided sufficient sensitivity for the drugs in the blood matrix, while the need for drawing blood was eliminated. The limit of detections of the method from whole blood were 1.7, 1.4... 

An efficient and selective drug delivery vehicle for cancer cells can remarkably improve therapeutic approaches. In this study, we focused on the synthesis and characterization of magnetic Ni1−x Cox Fe2 O4 nanoparticles (NPs) coated with two layers of methionine and polyethylene glycol to increase the loading capacity and lower toxicity to serve as an efficient drug car-rier. Ni1−x Cox Fe2 O4 @Methionine@PEG NPs were synthesized by a reflux method then charac-terized by FTIR, XRD, FESEM, TEM, and VSM. Naproxen was used as a model drug and its loading and release in the vehicles were evaluated. The results for loading efficiency showed 1 mg of Ni1−x Cox Fe2 O4 @Methionine@PEG NPs could load... 

Background and purpose of the study. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are emerging drug and imaging carrier systems which show significant versatility. One of the extraordinary characteristics of CNTs as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrasting agent is the extremely large proton relaxivities when loaded with gadolinium ion (Gdn 3+) clusters. Methods. In this study equated Gdn 3+ clusters were loaded in the sidewall defects of oxidized multiwalled (MW) CNTs. The amount of loaded gadolinium ion into the MWCNTs was quantified by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) method. To improve water solubility and biocompatibility of the system, the complexes were functionalized using diamine-terminated... 

In the present work, a simple, green, rapid, and catalyst-free procedure for the synthesis of benzamide derivatives by ring opening of azlactones with diamines such as ethylene diamine and 1,3-propylenediamine is described. The present method offers several advantages such as short reaction times, easy work-up, and mild reaction conditions in the absence of catalyst and any toxic solvent and material. In addition, the structure obtained by X-ray crystallography was compared with the theoretical results obtained by density functional theory using the B3LYP functional and cc-pVDZ basis sets  

In the present work, biocompatible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated by mesoporous silica were used as drug nanocarriers for doxorubicin (Dox; an anticancer drug) delivery. In biological media, the interaction of protein corona layer with the surface of nanoparticles is inevitable. For this reason, we studied the effect of protein corona on drug release from magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MMSNs) in human plasma medium. Besides, we used hydrophilic and biocompatible polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG), to decrease protein corona effects. The results showed the increased Dox release from PEGylated MMSNs compared with bare MMSNs. This result indicated that the coating... 

Polyethylene oxide (PEO)/chitosan (CS)/graphene oxide (GO) electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds were successfully developed via electrospinning process for controlled release of doxorubicin (DOX). The SEM analysis of nanofibrous scaffolds with different contents of GO (0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 0.7 wt.%) indicated that the minimum diameter of nanofibers was found to be 85 nm for PEO/CS/GO 0.5% nanofibers. The π-π stacking interaction between DOX and GO with fine pores of nanofibrous scaffolds exhibited higher drug loading (98%) and controlled release of the DOX loaded PEO/CS/GO nanofibers. The results of DOX release from nanofibrous scaffolds at pH 5.3 and 7.4 indicated strong pH dependence. The... 

Purpose: The prime end of this study was to design a novel pH-sensitive as well as a PEGylated dendritic nanocarrier for both controllable and traceable gemcitabine delivery to cancerous cells. To accomplish this goal, we took advantage of a hybrid of nanoparticles including: mesoporous silica, graphene oxide and magnetite. Methods: The nanocarrier was prepared in a multi-step synthesis route. First, magnetite mesoporous silica was deposited on the graphene oxide matrix. Then, polyamidoamine dendrimers (up to generation 1.5) with pentaethylene hexamine end groups were grafted on the surface of the nanoparticles. In order to enhance the biostability, and as the next step, the nanocarrier was... 

Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of heart failure and death in the world, and the transplantation of the heart is an effective and viable choice for treatment despite presenting many disadvantages (most notably, transplant heart availability). To overcome this problem, cardiac tissue engineering is considered a promising approach by using implantable artificial blood vessels, injectable gels, and cardiac patches (to name a few) made from biodegradable polymers. Biodegradable polymers are classified into two main categories: natural and synthetic polymers. Natural biodegradable polymers have some distinct advantages such as biodegradability, abundant availability, and... 

Currently, Alzheimer's disease (AD) accounts for more than half of all dementia cases. Although genetics, age, and environmental factors affect the disease, the cause of AD is not yet fully known. Various drugs have been proposed for the prevention and treatment of AD, but the delivery of these therapeutic agents to the brain is difficult. The blood–brain barrier prevents systemic drugs from accessing the central nervous system and designing a suitable system to overcome this barrier has attracted much attention. The intranasal pathway, given its proximity to the brain, provides a great opportunity for drug delivery. Understanding the physiological characteristics of the nose can be useful... 

Nowadays, cervical disorders are common due to human lifestyles. Accordingly, the cage design should be optimized as an essential issue. For an optimal design, an objective function is utilized to calculate the proper geometrical parameters. Additionally, the base material of the cage plays a key role in its functionality and final cost. Novel materials are currently introduced with more compatibility with the bone in terms of mechanical and chemical properties. In this study, a cervical cage was modeled based on PEEK material with three types of tooth designs on its surface. The cervical cage is assumed to be implanted between C6 and C7 vertebrae. The geometric parameters of the cage were... 

Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer. The purpose of this study is a targeted delivery toward in vitro (on MCF7 and 4T1 breast cancer cell lines) through niosomes-based nanocarriers. To this end, different bioactive molecules, including hyaluronic acid (HA), folic acid (FA), and polyethylene glycol (PEG), were used and compared for surface modification of niosomes to enhance endocytosis. FA-functionalized niosomes (Nio/5-FU/FA) were able to increase cell cytotoxicity and reduce cell migration and invasion compared to PEG-functionalized niosomes (Nio/5-FU/PEG), and HA-functionalized niosomes... 

Gold nanotubes/nanowires (GNT/NW) were synthesized by using the template-assisted electrodeposition technique and mixed with castor oil-polyethylene glycol based polyurethane (PU) to fabricate porous composite scaffolds for biomedical application. 100 and 50 ppm of GNT/NW were used to synthesize composites. The composite scaffolds were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. Cell attachment on polyurethane-GNT/NW composites was investigated using fat-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Addition of 50 or 100 ppm GNT/NW had significant effects on thermal, mechanical, and cell... 

A novel magnetic nanocarrier with long spacer length and high colloidal stability has been prepared for effective delivery of doxorubicin (DOX). First, poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer was grown up onto the surface of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to increase the loading amount of amine groups. Then, terminal amine groups were functionalized by polyethylene glycol dimethylester to increase the spacer length. Then anticancer drug DOX was covalently attached onto the system by hydrazone bond to forms a pH-sensitive nanocarrier. This system is designed to combine the advantage of magnetic targeting, high drug loading capacity, and controlled release  

Surface-modified magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles with an average size of 22 nm were prepared. The nanoparticles had a saturation magnetization of 50.7 emu g-1. Then magnetite and drug-loaded microspheres of poly (lactic acid)/poly (ethylene glycol) were prepared at various compositions. The microspheres were spherical in shape and had smooth surface. The diameter size of the microspheres ranged between about 0.2 and 4 μm. Doxorubicin hydrochloride for cancer treatment was the drug that loaded into the microspheres. The prepared microspheres were characterized by FTIR, XRD, VSM, SEM and drug-release measurements. It was found that the drug cumulative release percentage was proportional to... 

To efficiently enhance the contrast obtaining from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), pharmaceutical grade colloidal dispersions of PEG coated iron-based nanoparticles were prepared and compared to conventional pure iron oxide contrast agent. In this study, we synthesized ∼14 nm iron nanoparticles via NaBH4 reduction of iron(III) chloride in an aqueous medium. The resulting nanoparticles were further oxidized by two different methods via (CH3)3NO oxygen transferring agent and exposure to oxygen flow. XRD and electron microscopy analyses confirmed the formation of a second layer on the surface of α-Fe core. As magnetic measurements and Mössbauer spectra of 4-months post prepared nanoparticles... 

Superparamganetic iron oxide-based contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have offered new possibility for early detection of lymph nodes and their metastases. According to important role of nanoparticle size in biodistribution, magnetite nanoparticles coated with different polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentrations up to 10/1 PEG/iron oxide weight ratio in an ex situ manner. To predict the PEG-coated nanoparticle behavior in biological media, such as blood stream or tissue, colloidal stability evaluation was performed to estimate the coating endurance in different conditions. Accordingly, optical absorbance measurements were conducted in solutions with different values of pH and... 

The adsorption of chromium compounds from solutions by a composite of polyaniline/poly ethylene glycol (PANi/PEG) was investigated in this study. Experiments were conducted in batch mode under various operational conditions including agitation time, solution pH, PANi/PEG dose and initial concentration of chromium salts. Results showed that concentration of PEG at synthesizing stage has a significant effect on the capacity of produced composite for removal of chromium. Morphologically, PANi/PEG composite is closely dependent on the concentration of PEG. Maximum removal of hexavalent chromium was experienced when 2. g/L of PEG was used in synthesis of PANi/PEG. Removal of hexavalent chromium... 

In this work, an artificial neural network model was used to obtain the partition coefficients of biomolecules in polymer-polymer aqueous two-phase systems. In the artificial neural network, the partition coefficient of a biomolecule depends on the difference between concentrations of poly (ethylene glycol), dextran in the top and bottom phases, temperature and molecular weights of poly (ethylene glycol), dextran, and the biomolecule. The network topology is optimized and the (6-1-1) architecture is found using optimization of an objective function with sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method for 450 experimental data points. The results obtained from the neural network of the... 

This study aimed to synthesize methoxy polyethylene glycol propionaldehyde (mPEG20,000-ALD) for the preparation of PEGylated nanoliposomal cisplatin. Nanocarriers such as liposomes are developed for a wide range of drug delivery systems. PEG with high molecular weight (Mw) is used to coat the liposomes. In this study, simulated Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of mPEG-ALD were obtained using density functional theory (DFT) calculations and then compared with actual FTIR spectrum of mPEG20,000-ALD (Mw = 20 kDa). We found that the intensity of C = O stretching vibration at 1,700 cm-1 related to the carbonyl functional group of mPEG20,000-ALD was very weak. The results of DFT... 

An integrated microsampling approach based on solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was developed to provide a complete solution to highly efficient and accurate pharmacokinetic studies. The microsampling system included SPME probes that are made of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and C18-bonded silica, a fast and efficient sampling strategy with accurate kinetic calibration, and a high-throughput desorption device based on a modified 96-well plate. The sampling system greatly improved the quantitative capability of SPME in two ways. First, the use of the C18-bonded silica/PEG fibers minimized the competition effect from analogues of the target analytes in a complicated sample matrix such as blood...