Endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness are major determinants of cardiovascular risk in patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF). Microparticles are membrane fragments shed from damaged or activated cells. Because microparticles can affect endothelial cells, this study investigated the relationship between circulating microparticles and arterial dysfunction in patients with ESRF and...

In the past, plasma membrane-derived microparticles were considered "cellular dust." According to the literature, circulating levels of microparticles are increased in several cardiovascular diseases associated with inflammation, suggesting that microparticles are linked to deleterious effects such as endothelial dysfunction or thrombosis. However, very recent studies have shown that under seve...

An approach involving the preparation of biodegradable microparticles with a cationic surface was developed to improve the delivery of adsorbed DNA into antigen-presenting cells after i.m. injection. The microparticles released intact and functional DNA over 2 weeks in vitro. In addition, the microparticles induced higher levels of marker gene expression in vivo. After i.m. immunization, the mi...

In this work, poly(L-lactic acid)/poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLLA/PLGA) microparticles were prepared using the technique of solution-enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS). For comparison, separate PLLA and PLGA microparticles were also produced by the same SEDS process. The produced microparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, laser particle size analyzer, X-...

Inhalation delivery of aerosolized antibacterials is preferred over conventional methods of delivery for targeting lung infection. The present study is concerned with the development and characterization of a novel, spray dried, aerosolized, chitosan polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) based microparticles containing antibacterials for the treatment of lung infections. Chitosan polyelectrolyte comple...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) can cause hepatic failure after liver surgery or transplantation. IRI causes oxidative stress, which injures sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs), leading to recruitment and activation of Kupffer cells, platelets and microcirculatory impairment. We investigated whether injured SECs and other cell types release microparticles during post-ischemi...

Dietary microparticles are non-biological bacterial-sized particles of the gastrointestinal lumen that occur due to endogenous formation (calcium phosphate) or following oral exposure (exogenous microparticle). In the UK, about 40 mg (10(12)) of exogenous microparticles are ingested per person per day, through exposure to food additives, pharmaceutical/supplement excipients or toothpaste consti...

Purpose: To develop chitosan/alginate microparticles for the mucosal delivery of allergen from dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus). Methods: Chitosan/alginate microparticles were prepared by ionotropic gelation. The effects of polymer content, crosslinking agent, and preparation method on the physicochemical characteristics of the microparticles as well as their in vitro cytotoxicity wer...

The patterned template-assisted assembly of the cubic microparticles driven by the competing capillary, Columbic, and van der Waals forces had been studied in comparison with the traditional spherical colloidal microparticles. We observed that the spherical and cubic microparticles assembled with different probability in the channels of the hydrophobic-hydrophilic patterned substrates due to di...

Thymol, an important and advantageous component of many essential oils, has been applied as an antimicrobial agent in animals. To increase the duration of action of this compound in ruminants, it was decided here to prepare a controlled release carrier for thymol. Hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and ethyl cellulose (EC) were used as the matrix polymer here. Mixtures of thymol with eight ...