Editorial

, Volume: 15( 5) DOI: 10.37532/0974-7516.2021.15(5).18

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Drug Delivery Based on Natural Product-Nanotechnology

*Correspondence:

Amelia Hawking Editorial office, Trade Science Inc., UK, E-mail: hawkss_a@hotmail.com

Abstract

Editorial

Many natural compounds have already been analysed and developed in terms of their structure and activity. Plants include bioactive molecules such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenes, saponins, hormones, and phenolic compounds, among others. However, in most cases, these compounds have a poor absorption potential owing to their inability to cross lipid membranes due to their large molecular sizes, resulting in decreased bioavailability and efficacy. These molecules often have a high systemic clearance, rendering them ineffective for medicinal use and necessitating prolonged applications and/or high doses. The technological advancement of nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionise the production of formulations based on natural resources by providing tools capable of resolving the issues listed above that hinder the use of these compounds in nanomedicine on a large scale.

In recent years, the use of nanotechnology techniques in the medical sector has received a lot of attention. As a result, this will bypass these hurdles, allowing separate compounds and mixtures to be used in the same formulation's preparation. Furthermore, they have the ability to alter the properties and actions of a substance within a biological system. Release systems steer the compound to the specific site, improve bioavailability and expand compound activity, and combine molecules of differing degrees of hydrophilicity/lipophilicity, in addition to providing benefits to the compound in terms of solubility and stability. Furthermore, there is evidence that combining release systems with natural compounds may help to delay the emergence of drug resistance, and thus plays an important role in the search for new treatment options for a variety of diseases that have a poor response to traditional medical treatment.

These natural product-based materials are currently being considered as main ingredients in the preparation and production of new nano-formulations due to their unique properties, such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, affordability, reusable nature, and low toxicity. In addition to the above characteristics, biomaterials can, for the most part, be chemically modified, providing them with special and attractive properties for their future applications in nanomedicine. Using bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, various morphological characteristics of gold, silver, cadmium sulphide, and titanium dioxide have been synthesised. Due to their higher potential among all metal nanoparticles, these nanoparticles, especially silver nanoparticles, have been extensively studied in vitro for their antibacterial, antifungal, and cytotoxicity potential. When it comes to microorganism-mediated nanoparticle synthesis, the most attention is paid to how microorganisms reduce metal precursors and produce nanoparticles. For example, some researchers used Candida albicans to make silver nanoparticles and tested their antibacterial activity against two pathogenic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli. Another study used the Artemisia absinthium aqueous extract to make silver nanoparticles, which were tested for antimicrobial activity against Phytophthora parasitica and Phytophthora capsici. Furthermore, several researchers synthesised nanoparticles from Ocimum basilicum and Ocimum sanctum extracts and investigated their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetic properties against E. coli, Salmonella spp., S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa bacteria. Scientists have investigated the antibacterial and anticancer properties of silver nanoparticles in a human lung cancer cell line. Apart from microorganisms, our group has synthesised silver, gold, and iron oxide nanoparticles from a variety of food waste materials, including extracts of Zea mays leaves, onion peel extract, silky hairs of Zea mays, outer peel of Cucumis melo and Prunus persica, and the rind extract of watermelon, among others, and examined their possible antibacterial impact antibacterial action against a variety of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, anticandidal activity against a number of pathogenic Candida spp., and antioxidant and proteasome inhibitory impact.