BACKGROUND Doxorubicin (DOX), an anthracycline anticancer antibiotic, is used for treating various types of cancers. However, its use is associated with toxicity to normal cells and development of resistance due to overexpression of drug efflux pumps. Poloxamer 407 (P407) and vitamin E TPGS (D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol succinate, TPGS) are widely used polymers as drug delivery carriers a...

Polymeric micelles, self-assembling nano-constructs of amphiphilic copolymers with a core-shell structure have been used as versatile carriers for delivery of drugs as well as nucleic acids. They have gained immense popularity owing to a host of favorable properties including their capacity to effectively solubilize a variety of poorly soluble pharmaceutical agents, biocompatibility, longevity,...

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most common and malignant tumor. Luteolin, a polyphenolic compound, has been proposed to have anti-tumor activity against various cancers. However, the greatest obstacle in the administration of luteolin is its hydrophobicity as well as the low oral bioavailability. In this study, we formulated luteolin-loaded MPEG-PCL (Luteolin/MPEG-PCL) micelles aim...

Recent experiments on vesicles formed from block copolymers with liquid-crystalline side chains reveal a rich variety of vesicle morphologies. The additional internal order ("structure") developed by these self-assembled block copolymer vesicles can lead to significantly deformed vesicles as a result of the delicate interplay between two-dimensional ordering and vesicle shape. The inevitable to...

Surfactin, a cyclic lipopeptide biosurfactant produced by various strains of Bacillus genus, has been shown to induce cytotoxicity against many cancer types, such as Ehrlich ascites, breast and colon cancers, leukemia and hepatoma. Surfactin treatment can inhibit cancer progression by growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and metastasis arrest. Owing to the potent effect of surfactin...

Background and objective: Previous studies have demonstrated the anti-cancer effects of silymarin (SLM). However, the low bioavailability of SLM has restricted its use. This study investigated the toxic effect of nanostructured SLM encapsulated in micelles (Nano-SLM) on the growth of the HT-29 human colon cancer cell line. Materials and methods: HT-29 cells were treated with 25 μM/mL of SLM or ...

In the current issue of ACS Nano, Löbling, Haataja et al. craft polymeric nanoparticles with a hierarchy of nontrivial surface structures by combining conventional interpolyelectrolyte complexation with steric control from an uncharged copolymer block. Remarkable cylindrical and lamellar nanodomains are produced on the polyionic coronae of spherical micelles. Here, we discuss generalizing this ...

A pplication of reverse micelles for the synthesis of nano-sized calcium carbonate particles in different solvents (cyclohexane, decane and heptane) has been investigated. The effect of the mole ratio of water-to-surfactant (R) and type of solvent has been studied on the size and nature of the carbonate particles. The results indicate that an increase in water-to-surfactant ratio results in a l...

A unique pH-dependent phase behavior from a copolymer micellar solution to a collapsed hydrogel with micelles ordered in a hexagonal phase was observed. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to follow the pH-dependent structural evolution of micelles formed in a solution of a pentablock copolymer consisting of poly((diethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-b-(ethylene oxide)-b-(propylene oxide)...

copper sulfate was used as a precursor to prepare cuo nanoparticles in reverse micelles (o/w microemulsion).  this is a technique which allows the preparation of ultrafine metal oxide nanoparticles within the size ranging from 50 to 60 nm. the preparation of nano copper (ii) oxide studied was investigated in the inverse microemulsion system. therefore the nucleation of metal particles proceeds ...