• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.3835-3838
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most frequent cancer types within female populations. Silibinin is a chemotherapeutic agent ative against cancer. Niosomes are biodegradable, biocompatible, safe and effective carriers for drug delivery. Objective:To prepare nanoniosomal silibinin and evaluate its cytotoxicity inthe T-47D breast cancer cell line. Materials and Methods: Niosomes were prepared by reverse phase evaporation of a mixture of span 20, silibinin, PEG-2000 and cholesterol in chloroform and methanol solvent (1:2 v/v). The solvent phase was evaporated using a rotary evaporator and the remaining gel phase was hydrated in phosphate buffer saline. Mean size, size distribution and zeta potential of niosomes were measured with a Zetasizer instrument and then nanoparticles underwent scanning electron microscopy. The drug releasing pattern was evaluated by dialysis and the cytotoxicity of nanoniosomes in T-47D cells was assessed by MTT assay. Results: Particle size, size variation and zeta potential of the niosomal nanoparticles were measured as $178.4{\pm}5.4nm$, $0.38{\pm}0.09$ and $-15.3{\pm}1.3mV$, respectively. The amount of encapsulated drug and the level of drug loading were determined $98.6{\pm}2.7%$ and $22.3{\pm}1.8%$, respectively; released drug was estimated about $18.6{\pm}2.5%$ after 37 hours. The cytotoxic effects of nanoniosome were significantly increased when compared with the free drug. Conclusions: This study finding suggests that silibinin nanoniosomes could serve as a new drug formulation for breast cancer therapy.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.165-171
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• 2005

Itraconazole is a triazole antifungal agent to inhibit most fungal pathogens. However, it is difficult for itraconazloe to be delivered by topical system due to its poor aqueous solubility. First, niosomes containing drug were prepared with span 60, cholesterol. tocopherol and poloxamer 407 as vesicle forming agents in an effort to increase solubility of itraconazole. And then prepared niosomes were dispersed in O/W creams (containing xanthan gum, glycerin, vaseline, glyceryl monostearate and $Cerix^{\circledR}-5$) or gels (containing xanthan gum and poloxamer 407). Both creams and gels were evaluated with respect to their rheological properties, in vitro permeation through excised skin of hairless mouse. Creams or gels containing niosome showed pseudoplastic flow and hysteresis loop. For both creams and gels, viscosity was increased with increasing the content of glycerine or vaseline and the content of gel forming polymer, respectively. In creams, the permeability of drug to skin was decreased with increasing the viscosity of cream. The permeability of drug was affected by pH as well as viscosity of gel. In vitro permeation test results demonstrated that cream formulations showed better permeability than gels. In conclusion, these results suggest that creams formulation containing niosome can be useful for the topical delivery of intraconazole.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.127-139
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• 2023

In this study, minoxidil, which is well known as a pharmaceutical raw material, and diaminopyrimidine oxide (DAO), which is a cosmetic raw material, were used as active ingredients to evaluate the physical properties of niosomes and compare the skin penetrations of artificial skin. To prepare niosomes of the size of nanoparticles, a high pressure homogenization method was used, and physical properties were evaluated with a zetasizer. The particle size of the noisome including the active ingredient was measured to be 99 to 123 nm according to HLB, and the zeta potential was measured in the range of -60 to -81 mV. Through DSC (differential scanning colorimetry), it was confirmed that minoxidil, a crystalline component, was uniformly dissolved in an amorphous state in niosomes. In order to confirm and compare skin penetration, it was measured by the in vitro Franz diffusion cell method, and the niosome formulation showed 3.4 times higher penetration for minoxidil and 11.1 times higher penetration for DAO than the control gel formulation. In addition, when comparing the skin penetration of minoxidil niosome and DAO niosome, a similar trend was shown, and the penetration amount of DAO was relatively high. The shapes of the niosome formulations with different HLB values were observed using Cryo-TEM, and it was confirmed that vesicles were formed in all of them and that they were intermediate between SUV (small unilamella vesicle) and LUV (large unilamella vesicle). Through this study, minoxidil, an effective drug for hair loss, and DAO, a cosmetic raw material, can be effectively delivered to the skin by encapsulating them in a noisome formulation.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

There is no effective treatment modality available against different forms of leishmaniasis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to improve the penetration and efficacy of selenium and glucantime coupled with niosomes and compared them with their simple forms alone on in vitro susceptibility assays. In this study, the niosomal formulations of selenium and in combination with glucantime were prepared. The size and morphology of the niosomal formulations were characterized and the effectivity of the new formulation was also evaluated using in vitro MTT assay, intra-macrophage model, and gene expression profile. From the results obtained, no cytotoxicity effect was observed for niosomal and simple forms of drugs, as alone or in combination. Niosomal formulations of the drugs significantly showed more inhibitory effects ($P{\leq}0.001$) than the simple drugs when the selectivity index was considered. The gene expression levels of Interleukin (IL-10) significantly decreased, while the level of IL-12 and metacaspase significantly increased ($P{\leq}0.001$). The results of the present study showed that selenium plus glucantime niosome possess a potent anti-leishmanial effect and enhanced their lethal activity as evidenced by the in vitro experiments.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 1998

Niosomes are vesicles formed from synthetic non-ionic surfactants, offering an alternative to chemically unstable and expensive liposomes as a drug carrier. Non-ionic surfactant and cholesterol mixture film leads to the formation of vesicular system by hydration with sonication method. The formation of niosome was ascertained by negative staining of TEM. The entrapment efficiency of niosomal suspension was gradually increased with increasing the ratio of cholesterol to surfactant. It was found that the niosome with 6 : 4 (polyoxyethylene 2-cetyl ether: cholesterol) ratio was more stable than those with other ratios. The topical application of acyclovir(ACV) in the treatment of herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1) skin disease has a long history. There are an increasing number of reports, however, in which topical ACV therapy is not as effective as oral administration. Lack of efficacy with topical ACV has been hypothesized to reflect the inadequate delivery of drug to the skin. We investigated the permeation of niosome containing $[^{3}H]ACV$ in hairless mouse skin using Franz diffusion cell model. Permeation coefficient(P) of aqueous ACV was $6.7{\times}10^{-4}\;(cm/hr)$ and that of ACV in niosome was $23.4{\times}10^{-4}\;(cm/hr)$, suggesting about 3.5 times increase in the transdermal permeation.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.359-368
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• 2019

In this study, we carried out extensive in vitro studies on various concentrations of tioxolone along with benzoxonium chloride and their niosomal forms against Leishmania tropica. Niosomes were prepared by the hydration method and were evaluated for morphology, size, release study, and encapsulation efficiency. This study measured leishmanicidal activity against promastigote and amastigote, apoptosis and gene expression levels of free solution and niosomal-encapsulated tioxolone along with benzoxonium chloride. Span/Tween 60 niosome had good physical stability and high encapsulation efficiency (more than 97%). The release profile of the entrapped compound showed that a gradual release rate. The combination of niosomal forms on promastigote and amastigote were more effective than glucantime. Also, the niosomal form of this compound was significantly less toxic than glucantime ($P{\leq}0.05$). The flowcytometric analysis on niosomal form of drugs showed that higher number of early apoptotic event as the principal mode of action (89.13% in $200{\mu}g/ml$). Also, the niosomal compound increased the expression level of IL-12 and metacaspase genes and decreased the expression level of the IL-10 gene, which further confirming the immunomodulatory role as the mechanism of action. We observed the synergistic effects of these 2 drugs that induced the apoptotic pathways and also up regulation of an immunomodulatory role against as the main mode of action. Also, niosomal form of this combination was safe and demonstrated strong anti-leishmaniasis effects highlights further therapeutic approaches against anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in future planning.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.232-241
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• 2024

Purpose: Brucellosis, a zoonotic infectious disease, is a worldwide health issue affecting animals and humans. No effective human vaccine and the complications caused by the use of animal vaccines are among the factors that have prevented the eradication of the disease worldwide. However, bio-engineering technologies have paved the way for designing new targeted and highly efficacious vaccines. In this regard, the study aimed to evaluate immunity induced by mannosylated niosome containing Brucella recombinant trigger factor/Bp26/Omp31 (rTBO) chimeric protein in a mouse model. Materials and Methods: rTBO as chimeric antigen (Ag) was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and, after purification, loaded on niosome and mannosylated niosome. The characteristics of the nanoparticles were assessed. The mice were immunized using rTBO, niosome, and mannosylated niosome-rTBO in intranasal and intraperitoneal routes. Serum antibodies (immunoglobulin [Ig]A, IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a) and splenocyte cytokines (interferon-gamma, interleukin [IL]-4, and IL-12) were evaluated in immunized mice. Finally, immunized mice were challenged by B. melitensis and B. abortus. A high antibody level was produced by niosomal antigen (Nio-Ag) and mannosylated noisomal antigen (Nio-Man-Ag) compared to the control after 10, 24, and 38 days of immunization. The IgG2a/IgG1 titer ratio for Nio-Man-Ag was 1.2 and 1.1 in intraperitoneal and intranasal methods and lower than one in free Ag and Nio-Ag. Cytokine production was significantly higher in the immunized animal with Ag-loaded nanoparticles than in the negative control group (p<0.05). Moreover, cytokine and antibody levels were significantly higher in the injection than in the inhalation method (p<0.05). Results: The combination of mannosylated noisome and rTBO chimeric proteins stimulate the cellular and humoral immune response and produce cytokines, playing a role in developing the protective acquired immune response in the Brucella infectious model. Also, the intraperitoneal route resulted in a successful enhancement of cytokines production more than intranasal administration. Conclusion: Designing an effective vaccine candidate against Brucella that selectively induces cellular and humoral immune response can be done by selecting a suitable nanoniosome formulation as an immunoadjuvant and recombinant protein as an immune response-stimulating Ag.