Abstract
Nanotechnology is a field of research that has been stressed as a very valuable approach for the prevention and treatment of different human health disorders. This has been stressed as a delivery system for the therapeutic fight against an array of pathophysiological situations. Actually, industry has applied this technology in the search for new oral delivery alternatives obtained upon the modification of the solubility properties of bioactive compounds. Significant works have been made in the last years for testing the input that nanomaterials and nanoparticles provide for an array of pathophysiological situations. In this frame, this review addresses general questions concerning the extent to which nanoparticles offer alternatives that improve therapeutic value, while avoid toxicity, by releasing bioactive compounds specifically to target tissues affected by specific chemical and pathophysiological settings. In this regard, to date, the contribution of nanoparticles to protect encapsulated bioactive compounds from degradation as a result of gastrointestinal digestion and cellular metabolism, to enable their release in a controlled manner, enhancing biodistribution of bioactive compounds, and to allow them to target those tissues affected by biological disturbances has been demonstrated.
Highlights
In the late 1980s, Dr Stephen De Felice first coined the term “nutraceuticals” that was defined as “as foods, food ingredients, or dietary supplements with demonstrated specific health or medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease beyond basic nutritional functions” [1].Nutraceuticals, in general, have been strongly suggested as candidates for the development of chemo-preventive agents, regarding several pathophysiological situations based in the experimental results retrieved from a range of studies [2]
These nanoparticles have been revealed as a valuable alternative to improve bioavailability and retention of bioactive phytochemicals, since they provide appropriate protection to these compounds against inactivation reactions by surrounding factors, and constitute an alternative featured by even higher loading capacity and improved stability [41,42]. the release of bioactive compounds from micelles is conditioned by an array of factors, including micelle stability, rate of bioactive compounds diffusion, the partition coefficient, the rate of copolymer biodegradation, the drug concentration within the micelles, the molecular weight, and the physicochemical features of the bioactive phytochemical and its location within the micelles [43,44]
When assessing the compounds loading to the protein nanoparticles, it is noticed that the total amount of bioactive compounds is determined by monitoring (ultraviolet (UV)-spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectrophotometry or high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)) the non-entrapped compounds present in the supernatants
Summary
In the late 1980s, Dr Stephen De Felice first coined the term “nutraceuticals” that was defined as “as foods, food ingredients, or dietary supplements with demonstrated specific health or medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease beyond basic nutritional functions” [1]. Despite the increasing use of nanomaterials and the high number of derived commercial applications, nowadays, there are some concerns regarding the potential risk for human health derived from their use, as well as on the extent in which the inclusion of nanomaterials in foods formulation could compromise foods safety In this concern, one of the main matters of debate nowadays is focused on unravelling the extent to which nanoparticles and the bioactive compounds carried by them are competent to access to tissues naturally protected by biological barriers such as the blood–brain barrier [12,13], as well as the toxicological effects that this transportation could cause that have not been properly addressed so far. To extend the utilization of this promising technology with industrial purposes, the advance of the desirable features of nanoparticles in diverse food matrixes constitutes an important challenge that deserves to be explored towards an enhanced use of such materials, according to their specific properties, at the time that contribute to preserve safety and bioactivity
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