Natural products offer a wide range of bioactivity including antimicrobial properties. There are many reports showing the antimicrobial activities of phytochem icals from plants. However, the bioactivity is limited due to multidrug resistant properties of the microorganism and different composition of cell membrane. The antibacterial activity of the natural products is different toward Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. These phenomena are caused by improper physicochemical conditions of the substance which hinder the phytochemical bioactivity against the broad range of bacteria. One of the strategies to improve the antimicrobial action is by biogenic synthesis via redox balance of the antimicrobial active substance with metal to form nanosized materials or nanoparticles (NPs). Antibiotic resistance is not relevant to NPs because the action of NPs is via direct contact with bacterial cell walls without the need of penetration into microbial cells. The NPs that have shown their effectiveness in preventing or overcoming biofilm formation such as silver-based nanoparticles (AgNPs), gold-based nanoparticles (AuNPs), platinum-based nanoparticles (PtNPs) and Zinc oxide-based nanoparticles (ZnONPs). Due to its considerably simple synthesis procedure has encouraged researchers to explore antimicrobial potency of metallic nanoparticles. Those metallic nanoparticles remarkably express synergistic effects against the microorganisms tested by affecting bacterial redox balance, thus disrupting their homeostasis. In this paper, we discuss the type of metallic nanoparticle which have been used to improve the antimicrobial activity of plant extract/constituents, preparation or synthesis process and characterisation of the plant-based metallic nanoparticles.

Managing a bleeding patient can be a challenge during dental surgery. Profuse hemorrhage due to platelet defects, coagulation disorders, vascular anomalies, medication-induced patients, as well as inherited bleeding ailments result in soft tissue hematoma, septic shock, compromised airway, and in some severe cases, death could occur. A vast array of surgical hemostatic agents are available to stop bleeding, including chitosan-based hemostatic agents. Chitosan has an advantage over other topical hemostatic materials for its ability to promote shorter bleeding times and assist in healing. Massive behind-the-scene research and development efforts are ongoing to increase the performance of chitosan as a hemostatic agent. Numerous studies on chitosan use in dental hemostasis have registered it as being safe, biodegradable, biocompatible, promoting healing, antimicrobial and bioactive. This article reviews the application of chitosan in managing hemostasis in dental patients.

Introduction: In recent years, mucoadhesive topical application of mucous membrane has gained considerable interest among formulation researchers in advanced drug delivery systems. It has been identified as a potential route for both local and systemic drug delivery. A mucoadhesive agent is usually incorporated in the formulation to overcome the disadvantages associated with the conventional topical formulation. These disadvantages include low residence time of the medication on the site of application due to tongue movement and salivary washout in the intraoral formulation, mucociliary clearance in the intranasal application, and rapid precorneal elimination in the intraocular formulation. Carbomer or known as Carbopol is a mucoadhesive polymer that is widely studied for topical delivery of pharmaceutical agents to the mucous membrane. The use of Carbopol and its advantages in the mucoadhesive topical application has gained considerable interest with several published studies and is available in various grades. In this study, a systematic review was performed on the available literature that investigates the Carbopol application in mucoadhesive topical drug delivery. Method: A systematic searching strategy was performed in Scopus, ProQuest, and PubMed databases using predetermined search strings. A total of 778 articles were retrieved, however, only 25 articles met the inclusion criteria and were used for data synthesis. Results: The results showed that incorporation of Carbopol as mucoadhesive polymer hold multiple advantages in drug delivery namely excellent mucoadhesion effect, the prolonged residence time of the formulation, enhanced drug permeation, prolonged release of drug, pseudoplastic behaviour of the formulation, pH compatibility with all mucosal site, and biocompatible. Conclusion: This suggests that the incorporation of Carbopol can be an effective mucoadhesive agent for topical drug delivery systems.

Recently, drug delivery systems based on nanoparticles for cancer treatment have become the centre of attention for researchers to design and fabricate drug carriers for anti-cancer drugs due to the lack of tumour-targeting activity in conventional pharmaceuticals. Poly(caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) (PCL-PEG)-based micelles have attracted significant attention as a potential drug carrier intended for human use. Since their first discovery, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved polymers have been studied extensively for various biomedical applications, specifically cancer therapy. The application of PCL-PEG micelles in different cancer therapies has been recorded in countless research studies for their efficacy as drug cargos. However, systematic studies on the effectiveness of PCL-PEG micelles of specific cancers for pharmaceutical applications are still lacking. As breast cancer is reported as the most prevalent cancer worldwide, we aim to systematically review all available literature that has published research findings on the PCL-PEG-based micelles as drug cargo for therapy. We further discussed the preparation method and the anti-tumour efficacy of the micelles. Using a prearranged search string, Scopus and Science Direct were selected as the databases for the systematic searching strategy. Only eight of the 314 articles met the inclusion requirements and were used for data synthesis. From the review, all studies reported the efficiency of PCL-PEG-based micelles, which act as drug cargo for breast cancer therapy.

Blending hydrogel with an amphiphilic polymer can increase the hydrophobic drug loading and entrapment efficiency of hydrogel-based formulations. In this study, a hydrogel formulation with star-shaped polycaprolactone-b-poly(ethylene glycol) (PCL-b-PEG) as the hydrophobic drug cargo is produced. The 4-arm and 6-arm star-shaped PCL are synthesized with different molecular weights (5000, 10,000, 15,000 g/mol) via ROP and MPEG as the hydrophilic segment is attached via the Steglich esterification. FTIR and ¹H-NMR analysis showed the presence of all functional groups for homopolymers and copolymers. M_n for all synthesized polymers is close to the theoretical value while GPC spectra showed a monomodal peak with narrow molecular weight distribution (PDI:1.01–1.25). The thermal degradation temperature and crystalline melting point of synthesized polymers increase with the increase in molecular weight and number of arms. All formulations possess high drug loading and entrapment efficiency (>99%) and increase with increasing molecular weight, number of arms, and amount of polymer in the formulations. All formulations showed a sustained drug release pattern with no initial burst, which follows the Korsmeyer–Peppas kinetic model. The polymer hydrogel formulations showed antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus. The hydrogel containing 4-arm PCL_15k-PEG is chosen as the best formulation due to its high drug release, good antimicrobial activity, and morphology.