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β-Cyclodextrine-based polyester was coated on the surface of gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (NPs) and then functionalised with folic acid to produce an efficient pH-sensitive targeted theranostic system (Gd2O3@PCD-FA) for doxorubicin delivery and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Gd2O3@PCD-FA was fully characterised by FTIR, vibrating sample magnetometer, TGA, XRD, SEM and TEM analyses. The dissolution profile of DOX showed a pH sensitive release. No significant toxicity was observed for the targeted NPs (Gd2O3@PCD-FA) and DOX-loaded NPs inhibiting M109 cells viability more efficiently than free DOX. Moreover, the negligible hemolytic activity of the targeted NPs showed their appropriate hemocompatibility. The preferential uptake was observed for the developed Gd2O3@PCD-FA-DOX NPs in comparison with Dotarem using T1- and T2-weighted MRI in the presence of folate receptor-positive and folate receptor-negative cancer cells (M109 and 4T1, respectively). Furthermore, in vivo studies revealed that Gd2O3@PCD-FA-DOX not only exhibited considerably relaxivity performance as a contrast agent for MRI, but also improved in vivo anti-tumour efficacy of the system. The results suggest that Gd2O3@PCD-FA-DOX improves its therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of solid tumours and also reduces the adverse effects, so it could be proposed as a promising drug delivery system for chemotherapy and molecular imaging diagnosis in MRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed biofunctionalized nanoparticles with magnetic properties by immobilizing diethyleneglycol (DEG) on Gd2O3, and PEGilation of small particulate gadolinium oxide (SPGO) with two methoxy-polyethyleneglycol-silane (mPEG-Silane 550 and 2000 Da) using a new supervised polyol route, described recently. In conjunction to the previous study to achieve a high quality synthesis and increase in the product yield of nanoparticles; assessment of the effects of functionalization, chemisorption and altered reaction conditions, such as NaOH concentration, temperature, reaction time and their solubility, on size reproducibility were determined as the goals of this study. Moreover, the effects of centrifugation, filtration and dialysis of the solution on the nono magnetic particle size values and their stability against aggregation have been evaluated. Optimization of reaction parameters led to strong coating of magnetic nanoparticles with the ligands which increases the reproducibility of particle size measurements. Furthermore, the ligand-coated nanoparticles showed enhanced colloidal stability as a result of the steric stabilization function of the ligands grafted on the surface of particles. The experiments showed that DEG and mPEG-silane (550 and 2000 Dalton) are chemisorbed on the particle surfaces of Gd2O3 and SPGO which led to particle sizes of 5.9 ± 0.13 nm, 51.3 ± 1.46 nm and 194.2 ± 22.1 nm, respectively. The small size of DEG-Gd2O3 is acceptably below the cutoff of 6nm, enabling easy diffusion through lymphatics and filtration from kidney, and thus provides a great deal of potential for further in-vivo and in-vitro application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method utilizing NMR spectroscopy has been developed to confirm the identity and quantity of levodopa, carbidopa and methyldopa in human serum and pharmaceutical preparations. The method is based on 500MHz proton NMR spectra of individual catecholamine molecules. Qualitative and quantitative analyses are based on resonance characteristics of the functional groups present in their structures and the integral ratio of selected signals belonging to different compounds with respect to those of an internal standard, respectively. Experiments are performed to validate the quantitative NMR method, and the linearity and reproducibility of the proposed method are verified. The detection limit of the proposed method was estimated as 4.2, 1.7 and 1.6 μgml−1 for levodopa, carbidopa and methyldopa, respectively. The recovery studies performed on human serum samples ranged from about 82–96% with relative standard deviations of < 4%. The method was also applied successfully to the determination of each active compound in real pharmaceutical samples, and compared with the results obtained by the reference methods. The method is rapid, precise, accurate, and suitable for routine analyses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This investigation was carried out to evaluate 19F nuclear magnetic resonance as an analytical tool for the measurement of the cis(Z) and trans(E) stereoisomers of the antipsychotic drug flupentixol in human serum. The method is based on the integration of appropriate signals of both analytes and an internal standard. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of real samples without any interference, manipulation of large samples, and lengthy instrument time. Experimental parameters were selected to optimize accuracy, precision, and analysis time. The calibration curves in human serum matrix were linear for cis(Z)- and trans(E)-flupentixol over the ranges 4.0–50.0 and 2.6–25.0 μg/mL, respectively, with respective minimum detectable limits (S/N=3) of 1.67 and 1.72 μg/mL. The method was validated through spike and recovery for the two isomers of flupentixol from a human serum matrix. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown a great potential as a novel contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to their unique properties including versatile structures, composition, and surface chemistry. Fe-MIL-88B-NH2 (MILs) was synthesized using Fe+3 ions and 2-aminoterephthalic acids (NH2-BDC) in the presence of acetic acid and Pluronic F127 under a hydrothermal process. Three MILs in different sizes were synthesized by using variant CH3COOH/Fe+3 molar ratios and denoted as MIL-S, MIL-M, and MIL-L having average sizes of 60, 350, and 730 nm, respectively. The effect of aspect ratio and particle size of MILs was investigated on proton relaxivity and contrast enhancement in aqueous, in vitro, and in vivo MR images. MRI study indicated that by increasing the MILs size, the incremental transverse relaxivity was achieved from 13.53 to 50.80 for r2 and from 38.75 to 60.25 for r2*, while the difference between r2 and r2* was decreased obviously. The r2/r1 ratios were found to be 5.80, 42.27, and 127.00 for MIL-S, MIL-M, and MIL-L, respectively. All MILs demonstrated T2-weighted MR imaging performance. Furthermore, no susceptibility artifacts were observed on T2-weighted images of MILs. By decreasing the size of MILs, r2/r1 ratio was reduced sharply and T1 contrast was also observed for MIL-S. MIL-S was used for in vitro and in vivo study due to its capability in simultaneous T1 and T2 contrast enhancements. MTT and hemolysis assays showed no significant cytotoxicity and hemolysis for MIL-S against normal human breast cell line (MCF-10A) and red blood cells, respectively, at concentrations of Fe+3 up to 300 μg/mL (p < 0.05). T1-weighted images acquired from in vitro study interestingly showed that the signal intensity of MIL-S is more than Dotarem. The in vivo experiment revealed that the signal intensity of mice liver decreased sharply after injection resulting in increase of negative contrast enhancement. The negative contrast enhancement decreased gradually by the time under T2-weighted imaging mode confirming application of MIL-S as a T2 contrast agent in biomedical applications (up to 12 h post-injection). Although a decrease of the size resulted in bright contrast in aqueous solution for MIL-S, it did not show proper efficiency for in vivo positive contrast enhancement. The advantages, including simple preparation and accessibility, acceptable potency and selectivity, blood compatibility, and suitable cytocompatibility as well as enough circulation time, make MIL-S as a dual MRI contrast agent to differentiate between low-contrast tissues for in vivo experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: 19F NMR spectroscopy was applied to the quantitative determination of fluoxetine enantiomers using different chiral recognition agents in pharmaceutical formulations. Several parameters affecting the enantioresolution including the type and concentration of chiral selector, concentration of fluoxetine and temperature were studied. The chiral selectors investigated are the cyclic oligosaccharides α-, β- and γ-cyclodextrin and a diamino derivative of methylated α-cyclodextrin (DAM-α-CD), linear polysaccharides (maltodextrin with dextrose equivalents of 4.0–7.0, 13.0–17.0 and 16.5–19.5) and the macrocyclic antibiotic vancomycin. Among the chiral selectors used, DAM-α-CD turned out to give the best resolution of the 19F NMR signals of (R)- and (S)-fluoxetine. The calibration curve was linear for (R)- and (S)-fluoxetine over the range 0.10–1.35mgmL−1, the detection limits (S/N=3) being 5.9 and 7.5μgmL−1 for the pure solutions of (R)- and (S)-fluoxetine, respectively. The recovery studies performed on pharmaceutical samples ranged from about 90 to 110% with relative standard deviations of <8%. The results showed that the proposed method is rapid, precise and accurate. Applying statistical Student''s t-test revealed insignificant difference between the real and measured contents at the 95% confidence level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 19F nuclear magnetic resonance was used as a suitable analytical tool for the identification and selective determination of haloperidol in human serum and pharmaceutical preparations. The method is based on the integration of appropriate signals of haloperidol and trifluoroacetic acid as an internal standard. The proposed method is a rapid and facile, while without any sample pretreatment, manipulation of large samples and lengthy instrument time. The regression equation for haloperidol in human serum showed a good linearity in the range of 60–600μgml−1 with a detection limit of 1.4μgml−1. The mean recovery results on human serum samples ranged from about 96–103%, with relative standard deviations <8%. The method was also applied successfully to the determination of haloperidol in real pharmaceutical samples, and compared with the results obtained by a reference method. The drug''s degradation was studied by the proposed method in hydrochloric acid media and main products were identified. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A PVC-based sensor for La3+ ions based on N-[hexahydrocyclopentapyrol-2((1H)yl)amino]carbonyl]-4-methyl benzene sulfonamide (gliclazide) as a novel carrier was prepared. The electrode exhibits a Nernstian response for La3+ over a wide concentration range (1.0×10−1–1.0×10−6 M) with a slope of 20.1 mV per decade. The limit of detection is 8.0×10−7 M. The sensor has a very short response time (<15 s) and a useful working pH range of 4.0–8.0. The proposed membrane sensor shows excellent discriminating ability towards La3+ ions with regard to several alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions. The electrode was successfully applied for determination of La3+ in binary mixtures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

N-[2-[4-[[[(Cyclohexylamino)carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]phenyl]ethyl]-5-methyl pyrazine carboxamide (glipizid) was explored as an electro-active material for preparing a polymeric membrane-based sensor selective to samarium ions. The membrane incorporated 30% poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), 53% benzyl acetate (BA), 11% glipizid and 6% sodium tetraphenyl borate. When coated on the surface of a graphite electrode, it exhibits Nernstian responses in the concentration range of 1.0 x 10(-5) to 1.0 x 10(-10) M, with a detection limit of 8.0 x 10(-11)M samarium. The electrode shows high selectivity towards samarium over several cations (alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions), and specially lanthanide ions. The proposed sensor has a very short response time (< 15 s), and can be used in a wide pH range for at least ten weeks. It was used as an indicator electrode in potentiometric titration of Sm(III) ions with an EDTA solution, and for determination of samarium in binary and ternary mixtures.