Parth Malik

Green Chemistry Based Benign Routes for Nanoparticle Synthesis

Green chemistry has been an eye catching area of interest since the past few years. With the problem of energy crisis looming high and its constraint being particularly vulnerable on the developing economies, the need for giving alternative traditional chemistry a serious consideration as well as adequate room for development has received significant boost through the coveted efforts of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary scientific fields. Nanoscience has been the right field in this dimension as it opens up the door to multiple opportunities through enabling a number of chemical, biochemical, and biophysical transformations in a significantly easier and reliable manner. The use of nanoparticles has made the fields of catalysis, synthesis, and enzyme immobilizations as well as molecular interactions a lot much easier, rapid and easily controllable. This review article sheds light on the popular alternative synthesis routes being employed for the synthesis of nanoparticles, the pivotal being from microbes, plants, and chemical routes via sonication, microwaving, and many others.

Role of receptor for advanced glycation end products in the complication and progression of various types of cancers.

BACKGROUND Receptor for advanced glycation end-products popularly known as RAGE is a cell surface immunoglobulin class of molecule, binds with multiple ligands and therefore considered as a multi-ligand receptor. Use of RAGE deficient mice (RAGE(-/-)) as well as established mouse models pertaining to inflammation-associated carcinogenesis such as that of chemically induced carcinogenesis and colitis associated cancer provides a direct genetic evidence for a likelihood novel role of RAGE in cancer, with respect to its ability to lead cancer cell proliferation and survival. Besides inflammation, interaction of RAGE with its various ligands enhances oxidative stress both in cancerous and noncancerous cells which further complicates the progression of cancers. SCOPE OF REVIEW Till date, no single review article has discussed the mechanism of RAGE dependent complication of cancers, particularly the role of RAGE in cancer cell proliferation, angiogenesis, survival and anti-apoptosis needs to be discussed. MAJOR CONCLUSION RAGE enhances the number of cancer cells by activating the cell cycle proteins (e.g., cyclin D1), anti-apoptotic proteins (e.g., BCl2), prosurvival (AKT) and autophagic proteins. Role of RAGE has also been detected in formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) in the cancer cells and activation of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE This review article describes the role of RAGE in the complication of various types of cancers and the possible usefulness of RAGE dependent therapy to confront cancers in a stronger magnitude.

Preparation and characterization of bionanoemulsions for improving and modulating the antioxidant efficacy of natural phenolic antioxidant curcumin

An attempt to augment the antioxidant ability of curcumin, a natural phenolic compound via encapsulation in nontoxic nanoemulsions, has been made. Ethanol and glycerol catalyzed curcumin encapsulated nanoemulsions using cottonseed oil with mild cationic, anionic and nonionic surfactants have been prepared. The prepared bionanoemulsions were found to possess characteristic particle diameter between 100 and 900nm. The curcumin encased bionanoemulsions have been further screened for antioxidant efficacy with free radical 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl that enabled a radical scavenging activity of more than 90% as compared to pure curcumin. Alongside, the reduced surface tension and increased viscosity of curcumin encapsulated bionanoemulsions within 38.37-52.85mN/m and 0.7947-1.042mPa-s have quantitatively verified curcumin dispersion and interaction within the continuous medium, enabled via thermodynamic shift.

Nanobiosensors: Concepts and Variations

Biosensing has been one of the hottest topic attracting scientific minds since long back. It is so as biological entities are very complex and are directly associated with the existence of a healthy environment. The design of biosensors also has witnessed significant changes in the recent past. Biosensors for applications as diverse as food quality estimation, environmental monitoring, and diagnosis of clinical and metabolic complications have come to the fore. Nanotechnology has bestowed some highly exciting ingredients for the improvement of sensing phenomenon. The use of diverse nanomaterials ranging from nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanorods, and nanowires has enabled faster detection and its reproducibility in a much better way. The unique properties of nanomaterials such as high electrical conductivity, better shock bearing ability, and the sensitive responses such as piezoelectric and versatile color based detection mechanisms are only the results of congregation of nanomaterial properties. This paper highlights the different types of biosensors based on different types of nanomaterials and their developmental and implicational aspects.

Advances in nanotechnology for diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.

Purpose of review Tuberculosis (TB) has been a most turbulent problem prevailing for the last several decades. The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains and the dearth of anti-TB drugs are threatening the future containment of TB. Nanotechnology presents an exciting opportunity for proper identification of mycobacterial strains and to improve the potential of drugs for the treatment of TB. Recent findings Nanoscience has provided humankind with several unique and comparatively more effective drug delivery carriers, encompassing liposomal-mediated drug delivery, solid lipid nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, nanoemulsions, nanosuspensions and other nanosystems exploiting the extraordinary properties of matter at the nanoscale. Nanoparticle-based assays have shown significant improvements in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB. Nanoparticles as drug carriers enable higher stability and carrier capacity along with immense improvement of drug bioavailability which further leads to reduction in dosage frequency. Summary This review covers the prospect of using nanotechnology for the detection of mycobacterial strains and nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for effective eradication of mycobacterial infections.

Intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 as a drug target in asthma and rhinitis

Intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) is a transmembrane glycoprotein receptor of the immunoglobulin superfamily. Endothelial cells, epithelial cells, leukocytes and neutrophils are the major cells expressing ICAM‐1. Ligands of ICAM‐1 are macrophage adhesion ligand‐1, leukocyte function‐associated antigen‐1 and fibrinogen (extracellular matrix protein). In normal physiological conditions, engagement of ICAM‐1 receptor with immunological cells surface ligands assists in homing and trafficking of inflammatory cells to distant tissues. ICAM‐1 has also long been known to mediate cell‐to‐cell interaction during antigen presentation and outside‐in cell signalling pathways. ICAM‐1‐mediated elevated inflammation is implicated in asthma. On respiratory epithelial cells surface, ICAM‐1 acts as natural binding site for human rhinovirus (HRV), a common cold virus that ultimately causes exacerbation of asthma. This review presents the findings on the role of ICAM‐1 in the complication of asthma and in particular asthma exacerbation by HRV.

Dispersion enhancing effect of sonochemically functionalized graphene oxide for catalysing antioxidant efficacy of curcumin

The non-hazardous sonochemical approach has been developed for the functionalization of graphene oxide (GrO) with 5-Aminoindazole (5-AIND). The formation of f-(5-AIND) GrO is confirmed with 13C solid state NMR, HRXPS, XRD, Raman, TGA, DSC, FTIR etc. The >80% cell viabilities on MCF-7 and Vero cell lines have confirmed the high cytocompatibility of f-(5-AIND) GrO. Additionally, the morphological impact on Vero cell line has evidently confirmed the biocompatibility of f-(5-AIND) GrO. As compared to GrO, the f-(5-AIND) GrO has demonstrated an enhanced antioxidant efficacy of 69.4-72%, evaluated with 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical assay. With a similar objective (0.01-0.05)mL peanut oil based curcumin micro and nanoemulsions have been prepared using ethanol and glycerol as co-solvent and co-surfactant respectively. The prepared emulsions are subsequently characterised with respect to morphological and physicochemical parameters via density, surface tension, viscosity, friccohesity measurement and DLS analysis. Henceforth, with an expectation to achieve higher dispersion, an ethanolic dispersion of f-(5-AIND) GrO has been mixed with curcumin carrying emulsions in 1:1. Notably, the radical scavenging activities (RSA) of the combined formulations are significantly enhanced to an extent of 26.6%.

Structure-Function Elucidation of Antioxidative and Prooxidative Activities of the Polyphenolic Compound Curcumin

Phenolic compounds have been very well known for their antioxidant properties, owing to their unique ability to act as free radical scavengers which, in turn, is an outstanding attribute of their unique biochemical structure. Recent accumulating lines of evidence inculcate sustainable interest and curiosity towards the chemoprotective nature of the natural polyphenolic compound curcumin (diferuloylmethane) against oxidative stress-mediated disorders. Curcumin is naturally found as a constituent of dietary spices called turmeric, extracted from the plant Curcuma longa. However, like every phenolic antioxidant, curcumin possesses a concentration and medium dependent anti- and pro-oxidant behaviour. A detailed study of the structure-function analysis and the understanding of the mode of action of curcumin as well as its chemical analogues is thus essential to understand the selective biochemical consequences of curcumin. Moreover, the presence of transition metal ions, route of administration, and localized tissue are also the vital decisive factors to determine curcumin behaviour. With this viewpoint, this paper sheds lights on the medium dependent prooxidative and antioxidative attributes of curcumin. Further, with respect to emergence of nanocarriers, a brief discussion focusing on the biochemical effect exertion of curcumin chiefly due to targeted and slow release has also been added towards the end.

Biomedical Nanotoxicology and Concerns with Environment: AProspective Approach for Merger with Green Chemistry EnabledPhysicochemical Characterization

Of late, nanotechnology has emerged to be a very reliable bridge in trying to club salient fields of natural sciences on a common platform. Deservedly enough, nanomaterials have enabled numerous unconventional wonders to be accomplished through their incorporation, either on a singular or on complexed form. However, the rapid strides being accomplished on a tremendously high speed have sheerly ignored some ground realities in terms of ethical considerations. Bestowed with unconventional physicochemical properties and material behavior, nanomaterials are often surprise candidates in terms of their interaction with several other materials. This leads to a significant difficulty in the discard of integrated structures or individual materials carrying nanomaterials. The emerging threat of nanotoxicology from interactions thereof has attracted significant attention of environmental conservationists from the different corners of the world. In terms of physicochemical behavior, it is extremely essential to have a sound knowledge of the nanomaterial behavior and probable risk assessment. With this background, this review article sheds light on the behavioral aspects of nanomaterials with a comprehensive recalling of the case studies. The propositions of novel invention from Indian soil, Survismeter, friccohesity and tentropy have been made for further strengthening the risk assessment of nanomaterials.

Study of curcumin antioxidant activities in robust oil–water nanoemulsions

Oil-in-water (o/w) nanoemulsions of peanut, linseed and mustard oils with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), tween 20 (Tw-20) and tween-40 (Tw-40), were prepared for catalysing the antioxidant activity of curcumin. The peanut oil–Tw-20, linseed oil–DTAB and mustard oil–SDS ranging in size from 488.41 to 1337.09 nm, 446.10 to 1124.00 nm and 27.37 to 62.05 nm, have expressed free radical scavenging activities (FRSA) of 72.38 to 93.13 %DPPH, 65.08 to 85.55 %DPPH and 62.15 to 89.44 %DPPH, respectively. Their surface tensions in the range of 41.68–58.77 mN m−1 and viscosities of 0.8051–1.4059 mPa s infer enhanced curcumin dispersion. FTIR stretching frequencies (SF) of 1500–2000 cm−1 (CO) and 3500 cm−1 (–OH) infer curcumin encapsulation with the disappearance of the oil–curcumin SF (500–1300 cm−1). Friccohesity, a distribution indicator exercised via cohesive forces (CFs) and intermolecular forces (IMFs), has depicted curcumin nanodispersion on weakened oil and curcumin CFs.