Herbal compounds, so-called phytoconstituents, illustrate poor absorption by living cells. Phytosomes are advanced form of herbal compounds that show higher absorption rate and bioavailability, which results better than conventional plant extracts. Niosomes, which are made of nonionic surfactants, create better chemical and stability conditions besides lipid vesicles. This study covers the preparation, characterization and cell culture applications of phyto-niosomes of Marigold extract. Before the encapsulation process, extracts of selected plants were prepared and the extract that presents best bioactivity was chosen. The resulting phyto-niosomes were characterized and their biological activities including cytotoxicity, wound healing and antioxidant activity were investigated. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Most medicinal and pharmaceutical herbal extracts are poorly soluble in aqueous moieties and have reduced adsorption by living cells. Liposomal encapsulation of those so called phytosomes could be a solution to overcome this problem. Meanwhile, much research shows that metallic nanoparticles such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) exhibit biological activity such as wound healing and antioxidant properties on living cells. Here, we constructed a novel liposomal formulation by encapsulating both Calendula officinalis extract and AuNPs. After the preparation of vesicles using the traditional thin film hydration method within extrusion, the resulting AuNP–phytosomes were characterized by dynamic light scattering size measurements, zeta potential and atomic force microscopy. These vesicles are less than 100 nm in size and have a high encapsulation efficiency for chlorogenic acid and quercetin as the model major molecules of Calendula extract. Furthermore, AuNP–phytosomes exhibited antioxidant and wound healing activity significantly according to the free forms of each encapsulated material and the plain liposome as well as the phytosome form. Moreover, the cellular interactions of the vesicles were monitored using the nano-vesicles prepared by Texas-Red labelled lipids under fluorescence microscopy.

The development of multifunctional nanoscale systems that can mediate efficient tumor targeting, together with high cellular internalization, is crucial for the diagnosis of glioma. The combination of imaging agents into one platform provides dual imaging and allows further surface modification with targeting ligands for specific glioma detection. Herein, transferrin (Tf)-decorated niosomes with integrated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MIONs) and quantum dots (QDs) were formulated (PEGNIO/QDs/MIONs/Tf) for efficient imaging of glioma, supported by magnetic and active targeting. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed the complete co-encapsulation of MIONs and QDs in the niosomes. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated enhanced cellular uptake of the niosomal formulation by glioma cells. In vitro imaging studies showed that PEGNIO/QDs/MIONs/Tf produces an obvious negative-contrast enhancement effect on glioma cells by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and also improved fluorescence intensity under fluorescence microscopy. This novel platform represents the first niosome-based system which combines magnetic nanoparticles and QDs, and has application potential in dual-targeted imaging of glioma.