Glioblastoma (GBM), characterized by fast growth and invasion into adjacent tissue, is the most aggressive cancer of brain origin. Current protocols, which include cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, effectively treat localized disease; however, these aggressive therapies present side effects due to the high doses administered. Therefore, more efficient ways of drug delivery have been studied to reduce the therapeutic exposure of the patients. We have isolated and fully characterized small extracellular vesicles (EVs) from seven patient-derived GBM cell lines. After loading them with two different drugs, Temozolomide (TMZ) and EPZ015666, we observed a reduction in the total amount of drugs needed to trigger an effect on tumor cells. Moreover, we observed that GBM-derived small EVs, although with lower target specificity, can induce an effect on pancreatic cancer cell death. These results suggest that GBM-derived small EVs represent a promising drug delivery tool for further preclinical studies and potentially for the clinical development of GBM treatments.

This study describes a green synthesis method for silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using autochthonous “Mollar de Elche” pomegranate peel extract and optimized through a Python‐programmed Box–Behnken design (BBD) created specifically for the work. The bioactive compounds in pomegranate, particularly punicalagin, serve as effective reducing and stabilizing agents. BBD was used to analyze the effects of dependent variables such as silver nitrate concentration, pomegranate extract concentration, and temperature on responses such as hydrodynamic diameter, polydispersity index, and zeta potential, minimizing experimental trials and highlighting variable interactions. Optimal conditions were experimentally validated and agreed well with the predicted values. The optimized AgNPs were characterized via ultraviolet‐visible spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. These AgNPs demonstrated substantial antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus . Furthermore, the AgNPs were incorporated into nanofibrous scaffolds as a proof of concept for potential biomedical applications, where their antibacterial activity was partially retained postincorporation. This study highlights the potential of pomegranate extract as a sustainable medium for AgNP synthesis with promising antibacterial applications and the ability of the BBD as a useful tool for efficient optimization of multivariable processes, including the synthesis of nanomaterials.

The use of diverse Ag-based nanoparticulated forms has shown promising results in controlling viral propagation. In this study, a commercial nanomaterial consisting of ceramic-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was incorporated into thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) plates using an industrial protocol, and the surface composition, ion-release dynamics and viricidal properties were studied. The surface characterization by FESEM-EDX revealed that the molar composition of the ceramic material was 5.5 P:3.3 Mg:Al and facilitated the identification of the embedded AgNPs (54.4 ± 24.9 nm). As determined by ICPMS, the release rates from the AgNP–TPU into aqueous solvents were 4 ppm/h for Ag and Al, and 28.4 ppm/h for Mg ions. Regarding the biological assays, the AgNP–TPU material did not induce significant cytotoxicity in the cell lines employed. Its viricidal activity was characterized, based on ISO 21702:2019, using the Spring viraemia of carp virus (SVCV), and then tested against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The results demonstrated that AgNP–TPU materials exhibited significant (75%) and direct antiviral activity against SVCV virions in a time- and temperature-dependent manner. Similar inhibition levels were found against SARS-CoV-2. These findings show the potential of AgNP–TPU-based materials as a supporting strategy to control viral spread.

Poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic anhydride) (PMVEMA) of 119 and 139 molecular weights (P119 and P139, respectively) were electrospun to evaluate the resulting fibers as a topical delivery vehicle for (L-)menthol. Thus, electrospinning parameters were optimized for the production of uniform bead-free fibers from 12% w/w PMVEMA (±2.3% w/w menthol) solutions, and their morphology and size were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The fibers of P119 (F₁₁₉s) and P139 (F₁₃₉s) showed average diameter sizes of approximately 534 and 664 nm, respectively, when unloaded, and 837 and 1369 nm when loaded with menthol. The morphology of all types of fibers was cylindrical except for F₁₃₉s, which mostly displayed a double-ribbon-like shape. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis determined that not only was the menthol encapsulation efficiency higher in F₁₃₉s (92% versus 68% in F₁₁₉s) but also that its stability over time was higher, given that in contrast with F₁₁₉s, no significant losses in encapsulated menthol were detected in the F₁₃₉s after 10 days post-production. Finally, in vitro biological assays showed no significant induction of cytotoxicity for any of the experimental fibers or in the full functionality of the encapsulated menthol, as it achieved equivalent free-menthol levels of activation of its specific receptor, the (human) transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily M (melastatin) member 8 (TRPM8).

The decomposition of the surface morphology of films into well-defined elements, which are spatially distributed, allows us to obtain a versatile set of parameters to describe the element shape. The roughness is explicitly expressed in terms of such shape parameters. Based on that, the thickness dependence of the resulting roughness for a competitive columnar growth of evaporated Au[111] thin films was predicted, exhibiting a good agreement with experimental data. The roughness expression is subsequently generalized to a wider set of functional systems with attractive morphologies. The decomposition method proposed here is thus revealed as a promising surface-analysis tool.