Three composite sponges were made with 10% of curcumin and by using polymers, namely, chitosan and gelatin with various ratios. The chemical structure and morphology were evaluated by FTIR and SEM. These sponges were evaluated for water absorption capacity, antibacterial activity,in vitrodrug release, andin vivowound healing studies by excision wound model using rabbits. Thein vivostudy presented a greater wound closure in wounds treated with curcumin-composite sponge than those with composite sponge without curcumin and untreated group. These obtained results showed that combination of curcumin, chitosan and gelatin could improve the wound healing activity in comparison to chitosan, and gelatin without curcumin.

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Conventional nanocarriers are associated with systemic toxicity and poor bioavailability of the anti-tumor drugs due to undesired specificity. The objective of this study is to introduce a folic targeting ligand on the surface of a polymeric nanocarrier to enhance the delivery of the doxorubicin (DOX) via ligand-mediated endocytosis. Hence, the folate decorated-micelle based on the star-shape FOL–PEG–PCL copolymer was synthesized. The chemical structure of the copolymer was characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. A generalized biocompatibility test of the micelle was evaluated using MTT assay, in vitro hemolytic test, nitric oxide production and reactive oxygen species generation, respectively. When DOX was encapsulated in the micelle, the drug loading efficiency and drug loading content were found to be 90% and 13%, respectively. The average particle size of the DOX-loaded micelle, determined by dynamic light scattering was 148.2 nm. The intracellular uptake experiments showed that human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) could uptake a similar amount of DOX from two dosage forms: free DOX and DOX-loaded FOL–PEG–PCL micelle. The uptake of DOX-loaded FOL–PEG–PCL micelle was higher than that of free DOX in MCF-7/adr cells, adriamycin-resistant cell line. The uptake of the micelle in MCF-7 was found to be time-dependent; e.g.caveolae/lipid-raft mediated endocytosis and then folate receptor-mediated endocytosis was observed. This study demonstrates that the FOL–PEG–PCL micelle was non-toxic and the DOX-loaded FOL–PEG–PCL micelle could be a potential carrier for cancer treatments.

Microbial cells have extensively been utilized to produce value-added bioactive compounds. Based on advancement in protein engineering, DNA recombinant technology, genome engineering, and metabolic remodeling, the microbes can be re-engineered to produce industrially and medicinally important platform chemicals. The emergence of co-culture system which reduces the metabolic burden and allows parallel optimization of the engineered pathway in a modular fashion restricting the formation of undesired byproducts has become an alternative way to synthesize and produce bioactive compounds. In this study, we present genetically engineered E. coli-based co-culture system to the de novo synthesis of apigetrin (APG), an apigenin-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside of apigenin. The culture system consists of an upstream module including 4-coumarate: CoA ligase (4CL), chalcone synthase, chalcone flavanone isomerase (CHS, CHI), and flavone synthase I (FNSI) to synthesize apigenin (API) from p-coumaric acid (PCA). Whereas, the downstream system contains a metabolizing module to enhance the production of UDP-glucose and expression of glycosyltransferase (PaGT3) to convert API into APG. To accomplish this improvement in titer, the initial inoculum ratio of strains for making the co-culture system, temperature, and media component was optimized. Following large-scale production, a yield of 38.5 µM (16.6 mg/L) of APG was achieved. In overall, this study provided an efficient tool to synthesize bioactive compounds in microbial cells.