The mucosal barrier is present at the level of several organs and represents the pathway that limits drug absorption at the level of the underlying epithelial membranes. Many polymers, both natural and synthetic, are known to exhibit mucoadhesive properties and recently it has also been shown that the presence of free thiol groups in the polymer backbone further increases mucoadhesion....
Nerve Growth Factor, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Neurotrophin 3 and Neurotrophin 4 are known to play a range of crucial functions in the developing and adult peripheral and central nervous systems. Initially synthesized as precursors that are cleaved to release C-terminal mature forms, they act through two types of receptors, the specific Trk receptors and the pan-neurotrophin receptor...
Over the years, consumers' awareness of the close relationship between food and health has increased. On the basis of this strong cultural drive, the attention towards the health and nutraceutical aspects of food has grown, thus becoming one of the most important criteria influencing consumers' purchasing choices and generating new market opportunities. Nutraceutics, an innovative branch of...
The WNT signal transduction cascade is a key regulatory pathway during embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis. In the canonical WNT pathway, the armadillo repeat protein β-catenin serves as the central signaling molecule by engaging in crucial protein-protein interactions (PPIs) with both positive and negative effectors of the pathway and by linking WNT ligand mediated pathway...
X-ray Crystallography plays a crucial role in the structural investigation of drugs and provides a fundamental support for drug design and quality control in the drug development process [e.g., monitoring and quality check of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and finished products]. Depending on the size of crystals (i.e., fraction of mm or a few $\mu$m), the kind of source (i.e., X-ray...
Microreactor technology and flow chemistry could play an important role in the development of green and sustainable synthetic processes.1 In this presentation, some recent relevant examples in the field of flash chemistry, catalysis, hazardous chemistry and continuous flow processing of metallated species are described.2 Selected examples highlight the role that flow chemistry could play in...
Parkinson’s disease (PD) and α-synucleinopathies are characterized by the progressive loss of neuronal cells and the decline of cognitive and motor functions. Oxidative stress, dyshomeostasis of metal ions and α-synuclein (αSyn) should be key factors in the development of these disorders1,2. Moreover, the aggregation of αSyn is a crucial event in the pathogenesis of α-synucleinopathies....
Tubular aggregates myopathy (TAM) is a hereditary ultra-rare muscle disorder, actually without a cure, characterized by progressive weakness, myalgia or myastenic features. Biopsies from patients with TAM show the presence of tubular aggregates (TAs) originated from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) (1). TAs formation is triggered by functional consequences due to disruption in the SR-T- tubule...
