Over the years, extensive use of commercially available synthetic pesticides against phytophagous insects has led to their bioaccumulation in the environment causing increased resistance and reduction in soil biodiversity. Further, 90% of the applied pesticides enter the various environmental resources as a result of run-off, exposing the farmers as well as consumers of the agricultural produce to severe health issues. Therefore, growing attention has been given towards the development of alternate environmentally friendly pesticides/insecticides that would aid an efficient pest management system and also prevent chronic exposures leading to diseases. One such strategy is, the use of neem plant’s (Binomial name: Azadirachta indica) active ingredients which exhibit agro-medicinal properties conferring insecticidal as well as immunomodulatory and anti-cancer properties. The most prominent constituent of neem is azadirachtin, which has been established as a pivotal insecticidal ingredient. It acts as an antifeedant, repellent and repugnant agent and induces sterility in insects by preventing oviposition and interrupting sperm production in males. This review discusses, key neem pesticidal components, their active functional ingredients along with recent strategies on employing nanocarriers, to provide controlled release of the active ingredients and to improve their stability and sustainability.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-life molecule produced by the enzyme known as the nitric oxide synthase (NOS), in a reaction that converts arginine and oxygen into citrulline and NO. There are three isoforms of the enzyme: neuronal NOS (nNOS, also called NOS1), inducible NOS (iNOS or NOS2), and endothelial NOS (eNOS or NOS3). It is now known that each of these isoforms may be expressed in a variety of tissues and cell types. This paper is a review of the current knowledge of various functions of NO in diseases. We discuss in more detail its role in Cancer, the role of NO in myocardial pathophysiology, in central nervous system (CNS) pathologies. Other diseases such as inflammation, asthma, in chronic liver diseases, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), arthritis, are also discussed. This review also covers the role of NO in cardiovascular, central nervous, pancreas, lung, gut, kidney, myoskeletal and chronic liver diseases (CLD). The ubiquitous role that the simple gas nitric oxide plays in the body, from maintaining vascular homeostasis and fighting infections to acting as a neurotransmitter and its role in cancer, has spurred a lot of interest among researchers all over the world. Nitric oxide plays an important role in the physiologic modulation of coronary artery tone and myocardial function. Nitric oxide from iNOS appears to be a key mediator of such glial-induced neuronal death. The high sensitivity of neurons to NO is partly due to NO causing inhibition of respiration, rapid glutamate release from both astrocytes and neurons, and subsequent excitotoxic death of the neurons.

Lactoferrin (Lf), an iron-binding protein from the transferrin family has been reported to have numerous functions. Even though Lf was first isolated from milk, it is also found in most exocrine secretions and in the secondary granules of neutrophils. Antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity reports on lactoferrin identified its significance in host defense against infection and extreme inflammation. Anticarcinogenic reports on lactoferrin make this protein even more valuable. This review is focused on the structural configuration of iron-containing and iron-free forms of lactoferrin obtained from different sources such as goat, camel and bovine. Apart for emphasizing on the specific beneficial properties of lactoferrin from each of these sources, the general antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and anticancer activities of lactoferrin are discussed here. Implementation of nanomedicinial strategies that enhance the bioactive function of lactoferrin are also discussed, along with information on lactoferrin in clinical trials.

Aptamers are single-stranded structured oligonucleotides (DNA or RNA) that can bind to a wide range of targets ("apatopes") with high affinity and specificity. These nucleic acid ligands, generated from pools of random-sequence by an in vitro selection process referred to as systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX), have now been identified as excellent tools for chemical biology, therapeutic delivery, diagnosis, research, and monitoring therapy in real-time imaging. Today, aptamers represent an interesting class of modern pharmaceuticals which with their low immunogenic potential mimic extend many of the properties of monoclonal antibodies in diagnostics, research, and therapeutics. More recently, chimeric aptamer approach employing many different possible types of chimerization strategies has generated more stable and efficient chimeric aptamers with aptamer-aptamer, aptamer-nonaptamer biomacromolecules (siRNAs, proteins) and aptamer-nanoparticle chimeras. These chimeric aptamers when conjugated with various biomacromolecules like locked nucleic acid (LNA) to potentiate their stability, biodistribution, and targeting efficiency, have facilitated the accurate targeting in preclinical trials. We developed LNA-aptamer (anti-nucleolin and EpCAM) complexes which were loaded in iron-saturated bovine lactofeerin (Fe-blf)-coated dopamine modified surface of superparamagnetic iron oxide (Fe(3)O(4)) nanoparticles (SPIONs). This complex was used to deliver the specific aptamers in tumor cells in a co-culture model of normal and cancer cells. This review focuses on the chimeric aptamers, currently in development that are likely to find future practical applications in concert with other therapeutic molecules and modalities.