Nano-nutraceuticals

Nanoscience and nanotechnology have immense applications in diverse fields of science including electronics, communication, energy production, medicine and the food sector. It is considered that nanotechnology has the substantial potential to revolutionize agriculture and food systems. Nutraceuticals are defined as components/nutrients isolated or purified from foods which have health benefits besides their actual function of providing nutrition and are therefore used to prevent the occurrence of a disease or are used in its treatment. Although the use of nutraceuticals for the treatment of diseases has a very old history, phytochemicals with potential health benefits such as curcumin, resveratrol, and carotenoids have fascinated researchers owing to their intrinsic antioxidant property and beneficial effects in improving the immunity to treat several disorders like cancers, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease. However, the low bioavailability and poor solubility correlated with the phytochemicals leads to their inadequate absorption resulting in their reduced biological activity, which is considered to be a major concern for researchers. The efficient encapsulation of nutraceuticals, their smart delivery and sustained release from the nanoformulation are few of the emerging challenging topics of nanotechnology in food and agriculture sector. To address this issue, we are utilizing the principles of nanotechnology for the proficient delivery of nutraceuticals with the objective to improve their biological activity.

Fig a: SEM image of Curcumin and MNP encapsulated PLGA nanoparticles (2)	Fig b: Anti-angiogenic effect of curcumin and gemcitabine loaded aptamer conjugated PLGA-MNPs in HUVEC cells (2)
Fig c: In-vitro imaging with curcumin loaded nanoparticles in cancer cells (1)	Fig d: Curcumin loaded nanoparticles targeted with Tet-1 peptide show greater affinity towards the cell soma and nucleus in G1 cells (5)

References

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