The human fibroblast MRC-5 cells incubated with PHB granules (TM) added at a final concentration of 4 mg/ml showed a time-course pattern of survival. The percentages of dead cells obtained were at the rate of 3.8% after 7 days, respectively. When the MRC-5 cells grown in different material, using the test concentration of 4 mg/ml PCM, they were found to show a similar time-course increasing pattern of death as that obtained with PHB. However, the death was noted in the cells incubated for 7 days, the death rates obtained was 40.54% respectively.
This study aimed to investigate the oral acute and subacute toxicity of Poly [3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate], P(3HB-co-4HB) in the form of nanoparticles in Sprague-Dawley rats. Acute oral administration of P(3HB-co-4HB) nanoparticles was performed as a single dose up to 2000 mg/kg in six female rats for 14 days. Subacute toxicity study via oral administration for 28 days at doses of 0 (control), 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg in rats (10 rats in each group, female:male = 1:1) was conducted. The estimated lethal dose (LD50) of P(3HB-co-4HB) nanoparticles was >2000 mg/kg. No mortality, unusual changes in behaviour, adverse clinical signs, abnormal changes in body weights or food consumption were observed on all animals treated with P(3HB-co-4HB) nanoparticles during 14 days of the acute toxicity study. In the subacute test, there was no mortality and toxicologically significant changes in clinical signs, body weights, food consumption, hematology, clinical biochemistry, urinalysis, macroscopic findings, organ weights as well as histopathological examination were observed.
Among the various biomaterials available for tissue engineering and therapeutic applications, microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates offer the most diverse range of thermal and mechanical properties. In this study, the biocompatibility of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB-co-4HB); containing 50 mol % of 4-hydroxybutyrate] copolymer produced by Delftia acidovorans was evaluated. The cytotoxicity, mode of cell death, and genotoxicity of P(3HB-co-4HB) extract against V79 and L929 fibroblast cells were assessed using MTT assay, acridine orange/propidium iodide staining, and alkaline comet assay, respectively. Our results demonstrate that P(3HB-co-4HB) treated on both cell lines were comparable with clinically-used Polyglactin 910, where more than 60% of viable cells were observed following 72-h treatment at 200 mg/mL. Further morphological investigation on the mode of cell death showed an increase in apoptotic cells in a time-dependent manner in both cell lines. On the other hand, P(3HB-co-4HB) at 200 mg/mL showed no genotoxic effects as determined by alkaline comet assay following 72-h treatment. In conclusion, our study indicated that P(3HB-co-4HB) compounds showed good biocompatibility in fibroblast cells suggesting that it has potential to be used for future medical applications.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity of biomaterials; Hydroxyapatite (HA), Natural coral (NC) and Polyhydroxybutarate (PHB). Three different materials used in this study; HA (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2), NC (CaCO3) and PHB (Polymer) were locally produced by the groups of researcher from Universiti Sains Malaysia. The materials were separately extracted in the complete culture medium (100mg/ml) for 72h and introduced to the osteoblast cells CRL-1543. The viability of osteoblast CRL-1543 cultivated with these extraction materials after 72h incubation period was compared to negative control with neutral red assay by using spectrophotometer at 540nm. The results showed the non-cytotoxicity of the materials. After 72h of incubation period, HA showed 123% viable cells, NC was 99.43% and PHB was 176.75%. In this study, cytotoxicity test dealt mainly with the substances that leached out from the biomaterial. The results obtained showed that the materials were not toxic and also promoted cells growth in the sense of biofunctionality.
Nanomedicines, while having been approved for cancer therapy, present many challenges such as low stability, rapid clearance, and nonspecificity leading to off-target toxicity. Cubosomes are porous lyotropic liquid crystalline nanoparticles that have shown great premise as drug delivery vehicles; however, their behavior in vivo is largely underexplored, hindering clinical translation. Here, we have engineered cubosomes based on the space group Im3m that are loaded with copper acetylacetonate as a model drug, and their surfaces are functionalized for the first time with Affimer proteins via copper-free click chemistry to actively target overexpressed carcinoembryonic antigens on LS174T colorectal cancer cells. Unlike nontargeted cubosomes, Affimer tagged cubosomes showed preferential accumulation in cancer cells compared to normal cells not only in vitro (2D monolayer cell culture and 3D spheroid models) but also in vivo in colorectal cancer mouse xenografts, while exhibiting low nonspecific absorption and toxicity in other vital organs. Cancerous spheroids had maximum cell death compared to noncancerous cells upon targeted delivery. Xenografts subjected to targeted drug-loaded cubosomes showed a 5-7-fold higher drug accumulation in the tumor tissue compared to the liver, kidneys, and other vital organs, a significant decrease in tumor growth, and an increased survival rate compared to the nontargeted group. This work encompasses the first thorough preclinical investigation of Affimer targeted cubosomes as a cancer therapeutic.
The aims of this study are to determine the mutagenicity of a locally produced polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) using Salmonella mutagenicity test and to find out if PHB altered the expression of p53 and c-myc proto-oncogenes and bcl-xl and bcl-xs anti-apoptotic genes in the human fibroblast cell line, MRC-5. Different concentrations of PHB were incubated with special genotypic variants of Salmonella strains (TA1535, TA1537, TA1538, TA98 and TA100) carrying mutations in several genes both with and without metabolic activation (S9) and the test was assessed based on the number of revertant colonies. The average number of revertant colonies per plate treated with PHB was less than double as compared to that of negative control. For the gene expression analyses, fibroblast cell lines were treated with PHB at different concentrations and incubated for 1, 12, 24 and 48 h separately. The total RNA was isolated and analysed for the expression of p53, c-myc, bcl-xl and bcl-xs genes. The PHB did not show over or under expression of the genes studied. The above tests indicate that the locally produced PHB is non-genotoxic and does not alter the expression of the proto-oncogenes and anti-apoptotic genes considered in this study.