Evaluating FDM 3D printing and conventional tableting for producing ibuprofen amorphous solid dispersions.

Solar light irradiation activated dichloramine for efficient abatement of micropollutants.

Steering algal metabolic flux via EPS-mediated interfacial buffering for resilient pharmaceutical remediation in microplastic-polluted hotspots.

Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory PGCL fibers via polydopamine-assisted surface modification for absorbable sutures.

Poor aqueous solubility and consequently low bioavailability of various NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) usually result in high and multiple dosing with potentially serious side effects. Therefore, systems for the effective transport of NSAIDs through the GIT (gastrointestinal tract), ensuring enhanced bioavailability, remain in high demand. In the present work, we studied chitosan (CS) hydrogel lyophilizates as carrier systems for a model NSAID, namely ibuprofen (IBU). The CS-IBU lyophilizates were prepared from homogeneous or heterogeneous CS-IBU hydrogels to assess their influence on the resulting lyophilizate microstructure and IBU dissolution profiles. To gain a complex view of the CS-IBU behavior and its practical consequences, dissolution profiles of free IBU (reference) and CS-associated IBU (CS-IBU) were examined and compared to each other at variable pH (1.2 and 6.5) in two separate dissolution systems and in one discontinuous dissolution system mimicking GIT conditions. The results of dissolution experiments were supported by kinetic model data. This study demonstrated that the dissolution of IBU from the CS-IBU lyophilizates is affected by two main pH-dependent competitive effects; i.e., dissolved CS acts as an IBU solubilizer and the undissolved CS matrix serves as an IBU trap, which could be used in the rational design of innovative stimuli (pH)-responsive oral dosage forms of IBU.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as diclofenac (DCF), ibuprofen (IBU), and ketoprofen (KET) are commonly found in the environment and pose potential toxicological risks. This study investigates the microbial biotransformation of these NSAIDs by Cunninghamella spp. and evaluates the toxicity of the Cunninghamella-processed samples. The results demonstrate that Cunninghamella efficiently biotransformed DCF and IBU into multiple metabolites, whereas the biotransformation of KET was negligible. Microbial treatment reduced the ecotoxicity of IBU and DCF, as confirmed by Microtox® and algal growth inhibition assays. In vitro cytotoxicity tests using human hepatocytes (HepG2), neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y), astrocytes, and rat cardiomyocytes (H9c2) showed lower toxicity of the biotransformation products compared to the parent compounds. The Ames assay revealed no mutagenicity for any of the samples. Endocrine disruption assays indicated a loss of antagonistic estrogenic and androgenic effects post-biotransformation, with minor estrogenic agonistic activity observed. In conclusion, fungal biotransformation by Cunninghamella appears to be a promising strategy for reducing the environmental toxicity of NSAIDs. However, the generation of transformation products with altered biological activity underscores the importance of combining analytical identification with comprehensive toxicological assessment.

Discovery of novel ibuprofen-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives attenuating ulcerative colitis by regulating MAPK-mediated inflammation and restoring intestinal immune homeostasis.

This paper introduces the first validated and ecofriendly high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method for the simultaneous determination of erdosteine (ERD), ibuprofen (IBU), and pseudoephedrine (PSE) pharmaceutical combination. This drug combination aids in treating symptoms associated with upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) by providing mucolytic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and decongestant effects within a single therapeutic regimen. The chromatographic separation was effectively achieved on a silica gel 60F254 plate using a mobile phase composed of ethyl acetate: methanol: ammonia (7:1.4:0.5, v/v), and UV detection at 210 nm. The analytes were well resolved with retardation factors (Rf) of 0.06, 0.23, and 0.35 for ERD, IBU, and PSE, respectively. The method demonstrated high accuracy, with recoveries ranging from 98.4% to 101.2% and excellent precision, as indicated by % RSD values below 2%. It also showed high sensitivity, with detection limits of 0.014 µg/spot, 0.002 µg/spot and 0.150 µg/spot for ERD, IBU, and PSE, respectively. The method’s environmental sustainability was confirmed using the Analytical EcoScale, Analytical GREEnness (AGREE) calculator and Green Analytical Procedure Index (GAPI). Additionally, its overall whiteness profile was assessed using the Red-Green-Blue (RGB12) model approach, highlighting its analytical efficiency and eco-friendly design.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-57106-z.

Ibuprofen/graphene oxide co-exposure in Chlorella vulgaris: Distinct targets and a dose- and time-dependent shift from synergy to antagonism.

The chemically diverse group of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is a significant source of aquatic pollution, inducing oxidative stress in algae. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant response of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii exposed to four NSAIDs differing in toxicity and structure: flufenamic acid (FFA), nabumetone (NBT), ibuprofen (IBU), and naproxen (NPX). This study demonstrated that all pharmaceuticals significantly increased H₂O₂ production, confirming redox imbalance in cells. The antioxidant defense also showed compartment- and compound-specific signatures depending on the NSAID toxicity level. Less toxic IBU and NPX induced coordinated SOD isoforms and catalase activation, while more toxic FFA and NBT triggered chloroplast-targeted H₂O₂ scavenging via APX pathways. Notably, MSD3 transcript levels increased in all treatments, indicating its potential as an NSAID stress biomarker. IBR analysis demonstrated that antioxidant efficiency decreased with increasing NSAID toxicity. These findings demonstrate that NSAID toxicity shapes compartment- and isoform-specific antioxidant strategies in C. reinhardtii. We believe that future studies with a broader range of NSAIDs would enable us to investigate subcellular redox dynamics using compartment-specific ROS reporters and to identify NSAID-sensitive biomarkers for aquatic ecotoxicology monitoring.

IntroductionKnee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a prevalent degenerative joint disease that severely undermines the quality of life in middle-aged and elderly people. Pain is the predominant clinical symptom of KOA. Existing pharmacological treatments often cause side effects including gastrointestinal damage and cardiovascular complications. Common non-pharmacological interventions like exercise therapy also fail to achieve satisfactory clinical outcomes with limited curative effect. As a classic external therapy in traditional Chinese medicine, bloodletting therapy (BLT) has gradually demonstrated promising value in the clinical management of KOA. Despite its growing application, there still lacks systematic evidence-based evaluation on the overall efficacy and safety of BLT for KOA treatment, which restricts its standardized clinical promotion and popularization.PurposeThis study aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of BLT in the treatment of KOA and provide the best current evidence for clinical practice.Patients and MethodsThis study followed the PRISMA guidelines (2020) and systematically retrieved randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from three Chinese databases, two English databases, and one trial registry as of July 10, 2025. The inclusion criteria included adult patients with KOA, BLT as the intervention measure (either alone or in combination), and RCTs comparing it with Western medicine, Western medicine plus rehabilitation, acupuncture, etc. The primary outcome was pain intensity (VAS/WOMAC); the secondary outcomes included inefficient rate (inefficient rate= Ineffective/total number of participants×100%), response rate (response rate = (clinical control+ apparent effect) / total number of participants×100%), quality of life (SF-36) and adverse reactions. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Cochrane ROB 2.0 tool, and a Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.4.1. The quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE tool.ResultsA total of fifteen RCTs involving 1108 patients were included. The types of BLT included picking BLT, wet cupping, and Zhuang medicine BLT. The most commonly used BLT acupoint is the Ashi point. The comparison types included BLT vs. Drugs (n=4), BLT plus drugs vs. Drugs (n=1), BLT plus drugs and rehabilitation vs. Drugs plus rehabilitation (n=1), BLT plus drugs vs. Drugs plus rehabilitation (n=1), and BLT plus acupuncture vs. acupuncture (n=8). Of all included trials, one was assessed as “low risk of bias”, one was rated as “high risk of bias” and thirteen were assessed as “some concern”. The results showed that BLT improved the response rate by 23% compared with drugs (sodium hyaluronate and ibuprofen tablets) alone. BLT plus rehabilitation reduced the pain intensity by 13.31 scores in the WOMAC and increased the response rate by 80% compared with drugs (diclofenac sodium sustained-release tablets) plus rehabilitation. BLT plus acupuncture alone reduced the inefficient rate by 74%, improved the response rate by 44%, and improved the quality of life score (SF-36 scale) by 50.40 scores, and the subgroup analysis showed that when there were fewer bloodletting locations, the better the pain relief effect. BLT plus acupuncture may increase the risk of adverse effects compared with acupuncture alone. The quality of the evidence was generally low or very low, mainly due to methodological limitations and heterogeneity.ConclusionCurrent very low-quality evidence suggests that BLT alone or combined with acupuncture, drugs and rehabilitation, and drugs may have certain advantages in alleviating KOA pain, reducing inefficient rate, and increasing response rate. Compared with acupuncture, BLT plus acupuncture may increase the risk of adverse reactions. However, due to the low methodological quality of the included studies, the conclusion should be interpreted with caution. Future studies with higher quality and larger sample sizes are needed to further verify its efficacy and safety.

The emergence of novel pharmaceutical formulations requires the establishment of a reliable analytical method that can accurately quantify active ingredients for use in diverse quality control applications. An over-the-counter pharmaceutical combination of phenylephrine hydrochloride (PHE), chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM), and ibuprofen (IBU) is formulated to treat allergy, lessen fever, and relieve congestion. Two efficient and applicable liquid chromatographic methodologies were established, with an emphasis on ecological sustainability while preserving analytical precision and accuracy, in addition system suitability parameters were successfully determined for each method. The first approach involved high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) combined with densitometric quantification, employing silica gel HPTLC 60 F254 aluminum sheets as the stationary phase. The developing system comprised ethyl acetate–methanol–aqueous ammonium hydroxide (8.0:2.0:0.1, by volume), and scanning was carried out at 265.0 nm. The respective resolutions (Rs) were 8.44 and 4.57 for PHE, IBU, and CPM, respectively. The second one is high-performance liquid chromatographic methodology (HPLC), whereas, efficient separation was achieved on a Kromasil 60-5-CN column using isocratic elution of 10.0 mM ammonium acetate buffer and ethanol (50: 50, v/v), adjusted with acetic acid to pH 2.5 at a flow rate of 1.3 mL/min, with DAD quantification at 265.0 nm, with overall run time about 6 min to achieve sufficient separation among the target analytes. The resolutions (Rs) were determined to be 7.62 and 3.21 for PHE, CPM, and IBU, respectively. The investigated approaches’ performance was validated in adherence to the guidelines established by the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines, confirming its reliability for analytical application. Limit of detection (LOD) values were determined to be 0.02, 0.01, and 0.22 µg/band for PHE, CPM, and IBU, respectively in HPTLC method, whilst in HPLC-DAD method, LOD values were 0.03, 0.01, and 0.24 µg/mL for PHE, CPM, and IBU, respectively. These approaches can concurrently estimate the cited drugs in their raw forms, as well as their pharmaceutical combination. In addition, HPLC can monitor their dissolution profiles. Moreover, the applicability profile and ecological sustainability of the studied approaches were verified via employing up-to-date evaluation tools, along with comparisons against official and reported methodologies.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-55497-7.

When TiO2 meets pharmaceuticals: Photocatalytic degradation and environmental safety unveiled.

The removal of four representative pharmaceuticals—sulfamethoxazole (SMX), carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac (DCF) and ibuprofen (IBU)—was investigated in a model aqueous solution using UV-C photolysis, ozonation and a hybrid UV/O3 process. UV-C and UV/O3 experiments were conducted at initial pH 3, ~6 and 8, whereas single ozonation was applied at pH ~6 as a near-neutral reference. The processes were compared in terms of removal efficiency, apparent pseudo-first-order kinetics and kinetic enhancement. UV-C photolysis showed pronounced compound selectivity, with efficient removal of DCF and SMX but limited transformation of CBZ and IBU. Ozonation markedly improved the removal of ozone-reactive compounds, particularly CBZ and DCF. Under near-neutral conditions, UV/O3 provided high removal efficiencies for all target compounds after 30 min. Kinetic analysis showed that UV/O3 enhancement was compound-specific: apparent synergy was observed for CBZ and IBU, with SF values of 1.43 and 1.24, respectively, whereas SMX showed a subadditive response. DCF was rapidly removed under UV/O3 but was excluded from the main SF comparison because its concentration approached the lowest calibrated concentration level. These results indicate that UV/O3 is especially useful for poorly UV-susceptible pharmaceuticals.

Accelerated ibuprofen removal in soils via bioaugmentation: Insights into the involved microbiomes.

Deciphering pharmaceutical resistance in sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification: an integrated multi-omics artificial intelligence-driven structural biology approach.

Tuning the interface of graphite felt-supported NiCo composites for superior electrocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants.

Electrospun nanofiber membranes hold promise for abdominal wall repair due to their biomimetic architecture and tunable properties. However, their porous structure often induces an elevated foreign body response (FBR) that impedes tissue integration and remodeling. While previous strategies have employed ibuprofen (IBU) to mitigate inflammation, its non-selective cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition and rapid systemic clearance limit local therapeutic efficacy. Herein, we functionalized electrospun polylactic acid (PLA)/gelatin (Gel) nanofiber-bundle membranes with chitosan (CS) and loxoprofen (LOX), a prodrug-type nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug with enhanced tissue penetration and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) selectivity to achieve sustained local immunomodulation while preserving membrane porosity. The PLA/Gel-CS-LOX membrane exhibited favorable physicochemical properties, sustained LOX release over 28 days, and potent antibacterial activity. It showed good cytocompatibility and downregulated pro-inflammatory genes and upregulated anti-inflammatory genes of LPS-stimulated macrophages, and significantly reduced oxygen species (ROS) production. In a rat full-thickness abdominal wall defect model, the PLA/Gel-CS-LOX membrane facilitated robust cell infiltration, angiogenesis, and tissue integration. At 90 days post-implantation, regenerated tissues exhibited mechanical properties comparable to native abdominal wall, with optimized collagen remodeling evidenced by balanced matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9)/tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP1) expression. These results demonstrate that CS-LOX functionalization represents a promising strategy to modulate inflammatory responses to the electrospun mesh and promote functional tissue remodeling for clinical abdominal wall repair.

Hot-melt extruded ibuprofen ternary solid dispersions using in-line UV-Vis: Impact of an ionizable polymer on thermodynamics and dissolution.

Removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater remains a major environmental challenge, requiring efficient and selective Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs). Catalytic and non-catalytic ozonation was investigated in a laboratory-scale reactor under optimized flow conditions (500–750 mL min⁻¹, 98 % O₂ feed). Ozonation kinetics of active pharmaceutical ingredient mixtures (APIs) consisting of ibuprofen (IBU), diclofenac (DCF), carbamazepine (CBZ), sulfadiazine (SDZ), and sulfamethoxazole (SFX) (40 mg L⁻¹ each) — was investigated using iron-modified zeolite catalysts, Fe-H-Y and Fe-H-Beta, under semi-batch operations (0.5 g catalyst, 20 °C) in order to correlate degradation and mineralization efficiency with catalyst structure, acidity, and stability. Both catalysts significantly improved the ozone utilization compared to non-catalytic ozonation. Interestingly, Fe-H-Y accelerated initial degradation rate, while the use of Fe-H-Beta resulted in the highest level of mineralization. Adsorption–desorption analysis revealed that the molecular size and polarity controlled the interactions between the pharmaceutical and the catalyst: smaller polar compounds (SDZ, SFX) exhibited stronger adsorption on the catalyst, while bulkier molecules (DCF, IBU) were restricted to external surfaces. Post-reaction characterization confirmed that the Fe-H-Y retained more surface area and exhibited lower Fe leaching, while Fe-H-Beta showed significantly higher carbon deposition. Overall, Fe-H-Y combined rapid kinetics and structural stability, while Fe-H-Beta provided higher mineralization, at the expense of more extensive fouling. The study demonstrated that optimized ozonation conditions, coupled with tailored zeolite catalysts, markedly improve the oxidation efficiency and long-term performance in the oxidation of pharmaceuticals. • Pharmaceutical mixtures inhibited removal of CBZ, SFX, SDZ, IBU, but DCF remained resilient or even enhanced.. • Catalytic ozonation showed faster kinetics than in prior single-API studies, due to improved mass transfer. • Fe–H–Y avoided pore blockage and showed greater stability, aided by adsorption–desorption coupling and reversibility. • Catalysts reduced key byproducts (e.g. 4-OH-DCF) by 250–900× relative to non-catalytic runs. • Catalysts boosted total organic carbon (TOC) removal (82–89% vs 63% without catalyst).