Nanotechnology has emerged as one of the leading fields of the science having tremendous application in diverse disciplines. As nanomaterials are increasingly becoming part of everyday consumer products, it is imperative to assess their impact on living organisms and on the environment. Physicochemical characteristics of nanoparticles and engineered nanomaterials including size, shape, chemical composition, physiochemical stability, crystal structure, surface area, surface energy, and surface roughness generally influence the toxic manifestations of these nanomaterials. This compels the research fraternity to evaluate the role of these properties in determining associated toxicity issues. Reckoning with this fact, in this paper, issues pertaining to the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials as it relates to the toxicity of the nanomaterials are discussed.

Biomimetic synthesis of nanoparticles offers a convenient and bio friendly approach to fabricate complex structures with sub-nanometer precision from simple precursor components. In the present study, we have synthesized nanoparticles of Amphotericin B (AmB), a potent antifungal agent, using Aloe vera leaf extract. The synthesis of AmB nano-assemblies (AmB-NAs) was established employing spectro-photometric and electron microscopic studies, while their crystalline nature was established by X-ray diffraction. AmB-nano-formulation showed much higher stability in both phosphate buffer saline and serum and exhibit sustained release of parent drug over an extended time period. The as-synthesized AmB-NA possessed significantly less haemolysis as well as nephrotoxicity in the host at par with Ambisome^®, a liposomized AmB formulation. Interestingly, the AmB-NAs were more effective in killing various fungal pathogens including Candida spp. and evoked less drug related toxic manifestations in the host as compared to free form of the drug. The data of the present study suggest that biomimetically synthesized AmB-NA circumvent toxicity issues and offer a promising approach to eliminate systemic fungal infections in Balb/C mice.

Breast cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women comprising about 12% females worldwide. The underlying alteration in the gene expression, molecular mechanism and metabolic pathways responsible for incidence and progression of breast tumorigenesis are yet not completely understood. In the present study, potential biomarker genes involved in the early progression for early diagnosis of breast cancer has been detailed. Regulation and Gene profiling of Ductal Carcinoma In-situ (DCIS), Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) and healthy samples have been analyzed to follow their expression pattern employing normalization, statistical calculation, DEGs annotation and Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network. We have performed a comparative study on differentially expressed genes among Healthy vs DCIS, Healthy vsIDC and DCIS vs IDC. We found MCM102 and SLC12A8as consistently overexpressed and LEP, SORBS1, SFRP1, PLIN1, FABP4, RBP4, CD300LG, ID4, CRYAB, ECRG4, G0S2, FMO2, ADAMTS5, CAV1, CAV2, ABCA8, MAMDC2, IGFBP6, CLDN11, TGFBR3as under-expressed genes in all the 3 conditions categorized for pre-invasive and invasive ductal breast carcinoma. These genes were further studied for the active pathways where PPAR(γ) signaling pathway was found to be significantly involved. The gene expression profile database can be a potential tool in the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Nano-sized drug delivery systems (NDDS) have been widely exploited to achieve targeted delivery of pharmaco-materials. Traditional pharmaceutical approaches, implied in the synthesis of nano-formulations, are obscure owing to the incompatible physico-chemical properties of the core drug as well as some other factors crucial in development of NDDS. Infact, most of the existing methods used in development of NDDS rely on usage of additives or excipients, a special class of chemicals. Barring few exceptions, the usage of synthetic excipients ought to be curtailed because of several associated undesirable features. Such issues necessitate strategies that lead to development of the synthetic excipient free drug delivery system. Plant based extracts have great potential to induce synthesis of nano-sized particles. Considering this fact, here we propose a prototype employing orange fruit juice (OJ) to facilitate bio-mediated synthesis of nano-sized supra-molecular assemblies of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a potent anticancer drug. The as-synthesized 5-FU Nanoparticles (NPs) retained the anti-neoplastic efficacy of the parent compound and induced apoptosis in cancer cells. The novel 5-FU NPs formulation demonstrated enhanced efficacy against DMBA induced experimental fibrosarcoma in the mouse model when compared to the micro-sized crystals of parent 5-FU drug.

Besides inciting persistent and recurrent nosocomial afflictions, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), a biofilm forming pathogen, poses an increased risk of several skin as well as respiratory tract infections as well. Emerging antimicrobial resistance trend asks to search for an alternate non-antibiotic based option to combat S. aureus pathogen. In the present study, we evaluated synergistic antimicrobial potential of Zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO-NRs) and diallyl sulphide (DAS) emulsion against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The antimicrobial assessment study suggests that the ZnO-NR and DAS emulsion effectively suppressed both sensitive S. aureus as well as MRSA isolates. The combination treatment showed enhanced activity even at a lower concentration as compared to the single treatment based on ZnO-NRs and DAS emulsion alone. The ZnO-NRs-DAS combination showed significant inhibition of MRSA biofilm as well. The data suggest that a combination therapy, comprising of ZnO-NRs and DAS emulsion, successfully treated experimental dermatitis infection caused by MRSA in mice model.