GLUTATHIONE IS AN IMPORTANT ANTIOXIDANT IN PLANTS, ANIMALS, FUNGI AND SOME BACTERIA AND ARCHAEA, PREVENTING DAMAGE TO IMPORTANT CELLULAR COMPONENTS CAUSED BY REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES SUCH AS FREE RADICALS AND PEROXIDES...

CYSTEINE IS AN AMINO ACID THAT IS ESSENTIAL FOR INFANTS, THE ELDERLY, AND INDIVIDUALS WITH CERTAIN METABOLIC DISEASE OR WHO SUFFERS FROM MALABSORPTION SYNDROMES. CYSTEINE CAN USUALLY BE SYNTHESIZED BY THE HUMAN BODY UNDER NORMAL PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS IF A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY OF METHIONINE IS AVAILABLE...

THE IMPORTANCE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY HAS GAINED NEW AND WIDELY FIELDS FOR THE APPLICATION OF NANOMATERIALS IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY [1]. THE SIMILAR DIMENSIONS OF NANOMATERIALS AND PROTEIN MOLECULES OFFER THAT THE INTEGRATION OF THE TWO WILL CAUSE TO ATTRACTIVE NEW MATERIALS. NANOFIBERS ARE ATTRACTIVE FOR VARIOUS APPLICATIONS DUE TO THEIR INTRINSICALLY HIGH SURFACE AREA TO MASS OR VOLUME RATIO AND HIGH POROSITIES. ELECTROSPINNING IS A LOW COST, VERSATILE AND SIMPLE PROCESS TO GENERATE NANOFIBERS FROM DIFFERENT MATERIALS INCLUDING POLYMERS, CERAMICS AND COMPOSITES [3, 4]. ....

BACKGROUND: DRUG DELIVERY IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INDEPENDENT FIELD OF RESEARCH THAT IS GAINING THE ATTENTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCHERS, MEDICAL DOCTORS AND INDUSTRY. A SAFE AND TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY COULD IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF SOME CLASSIC MEDICINES ALREADY ON THE MARKET, AND MOREOVER, WILL HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESS OF NEW THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES SUCH AS ANTICANCER DRUG DELIVERY, PEPTIDE AND PROTEIN DELIVERY AND GENE THERAPY. NANOTUBES (NTS) HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED AS AN IMPORTANT STRATEGY TO DELIVER CONVENTIONAL DRUGS, RECOMBINANT PROTEINS, VACCINES AND MORE RECENTLY, DRUG-DELIVERY SYSTEMS MODIFY THE KINETICS, BODY DISTRIBUTION AND DRUG RELEASE OF AN ASSOCIATED DRUG.METHODS: TITANIUM DIOXIDE NANOTUBE ARRAYS (TNT) USED AS DRUG-CARRIES WAS PREPARED BY SELF-ORDERING ELECTROCHEMICAL ANODIZATION [1]. THE PREPARED TNT-TI SUBSTRATES WERE LOADED WITH DRUG VIA A SIMPLE METHOD, PUTTING DRUG SOLUTION AND DRYING IT [3]. DRUG-RELEASE EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MODEL ANTIBIOTIC CIPROFLOXACIN. SIGNIFICANT SURFACE-DEPENDENT DIFFERENCES IN THE RELEASE KINETICS OF CIPROFLOXACIN WERE OBSERVED. THE MORPHOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL STRUCTURES OF TIO2 FILMS WERE CHARACTERIZED USINGSCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM).THE AMOUNT OF THE DRUG WAS DETERMINED BY UV-VIS SPECTROSCOPY. THERE WAS A LINEAR RELATION BETWEEN ABSORPTION AND CONCENTRATION OF THE DRUG. ALL THE MEASURING WAS DETERMINED IN PBS (PHOSPHATE BUFFERED SALINE).RESULTS: THERE IS A RELATION BETWEEN DIAMETER AND LENGTH OF NANOTUBES AND VOLTAGE, TIME AND CONCENTRATION OF ELECTROLYTE. THE PARAMETERS OF THE NANOTUBES AFFECT ON THE RATE OF RELEASING OF THE DRUG.

DRUG DELIVERY IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INDEPENDENT FIELD OF RESEARCH THAT IS GAINING THE ATTENTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCHERS, MEDICAL DOCTORS AND INDUSTRY. A SAFE AND TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY COULD IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF SOME CLASSIC MEDICINES ALREADY ON THE MARKET, AND MOREOVER, WILL HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESS OF NEW THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES SUCH AS ANTICANCER DRUG DELIVERY, PEPTIDE AND PROTEIN DELIVERY AND GENE THERAPY. NANOTUBES (NTS) HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED AS AN IMPORTANT STRATEGY TO DELIVER CONVENTIONAL DRUGS, RECOMBINANT PROTEINS, VACCINES AND MORE RECENTLY, DRUGDELIVERY SYSTEMS MODIFY THE KINETICS, BODY DISTRIBUTION AND DRUG RELEASE OF AN ASSOCIATED DRUG. THIS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THE POTENTIAL OF NANOTECHNOLOGY IN MEDICINE. TITANIUM DIOXIDE NANOTUBE ARRAYS (TNT) USED AS DRUG-CARRIES WAS PREPARED BY SELF-ORDERING ELECTROCHEMICAL ANODIZATION [1]. BACTERIAL INFECTION, EXTENSIVE INFLAMMATION AND POOR OSSEOINTEGRATION HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE MAJOR REASONS FOR ORTHOPAEDIC IMPLANT FAILURES BASED ON TITANIUM. CREATING IMPLANTS WITH DRUG-ELUTING PROPERTIES TO LOCALLY DELIVER DRUGS IS AN APPEALING WAY TO ADDRESS SOME OF THESE PROBLEMS. TO IMPROVE PROPERTIES OF TITANIUM FOR ORTHOPAEDIC APPLICATIONS [2]. NANOTUBE ARRAYS ON TITANIUM SURFACES WERE FABRICATED BY ANODIZATION METHODS AND THEIR POTENTIAL FOR STORAGE AND RELEASE OF DRUGS WAS EVALUATED. THE TREATMENT OF THE TI SURFACES IN NH4F/ETHYLENE GLYCOL ELECTROLYTELED TO THE FORMATION OF TIO2 NANOTUBES. THE PREPARED TNT-TI SUBSTRATES WERE LOADED WITH DRUG VIA A SIMPLE METHOD, PUTTING DRUG SOLUTION AND DRYING IT [3]. DRUGRELEASE EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MODEL ANTIBIOTIC CIPROFLOXACIN. SIGNIFICANT SURFACE-DEPENDENT DIFFERENCES IN THE RELEASE KINETICS OF CIPROFLOXACIN WERE OBSERVED. THE MORPHOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL STRUCTURES OF TIO2 FILMS WERE CHARACTERIZED USINGSCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM).THE AMOUNT OF THE DRUG WAS DETERMINED BY UV-VIS SPECTROSCOPY. THERE WAS A LINEAR RELATION BETWEEN ABSORPTION AND CONCENTRATION OF THE DRUG. ALL THE MEASURING WAS DETERMINED IN PHOSPHATE BUFFERED SALINE.