The Celular Responses to Xenobiotics Group (CEREX) develops its research in the Physiolgy section of Department of Biochemistry and Physiology (Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences).
The group focus its research in the development of in vitro methods to evaluate the potential cytotoxicity of nanoparticles and nanovesicles for drug delivery. The increase use of nanomaterials supposes a potential risk to the human health and it is necessary to ensure the safety of these materials before marketing.
There is an especial interest in the adaptation of the present methods to study the cytotoxicity of small particles given that their toxicity is affected by the exposition area. The potential interference of these particles with the classical cytotoxicity endpoints makes necessary the search of new endpoints. The present activity of the group is the search of assessment of the irritant and/or sensitization capacity of nanoparticles developed for transdermal drug delivery. The group obtain particles with higher loading efficiency and loading capacity and high biocompatibility as promising DNA vehicles to be used as non-viral gene delivery systems.
Another area of interest is the study of nanoparticle interactions with erythrocytes and plasma proteins and the coagulation process. The potential photoprotective effect of nanovesicles are also studied.
The very slow progress in the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment of severe diseases has suggested the use of a growing need for a multidisciplinary approach to the delivery of therapeutics to targets tissues. There has been increasing effort in the design of stimuli-responsive nanomaterials that they will be developed into effective drug delivery vehicles. Most commonly, effective drug delivery is associated with nanomaterial-facilitated accumulation and/or cellular internalization. Ongoing research is focused on building up stimulus triggered devices for the effective delivery of gene/drugs.
Maria Pilar Vinardell Martínez-Hidalgo (Full Professor) mpvinardellmh(at)ub.edu
Montserrrat Mitjans Arnal (Associate Professor)
M del Carmen Moran Bádenas (Associate Professor)
Adriana Solange Maddaleno Jiménez (Technician)
Michele Ferrari (External Collaborator-CNR-ICMATE Italy)
Size Matters? A Comprehensive In Vitro Study of the Impact of Particle Size on the Toxicity of ZnO. Mitjans M.; Marics L.; Bilbao M.; Maddaleno A.S.; Piñero J.J.; Vinardell M.P. 2023, Nanomaterials, 13, 11, 1800. Doi: 10.3390/nano13111800
Profiling and Evaluation of the Effect of Guarana-Loaded Liposomes on Different Skin Cell Lines: An In Vitro Study. Roggia I.; Gomes P.; Dalcin A.J.F.; Ourique A.F.; Mânica da Cruz I.B.; Ribeiro E.E.; Mitjans M.; Vinardell M.P. 2023, Cosmetics, 10, 3, 79. Doi: 10.3390/cosmetics10030079
Overcoming MDR by Associating Doxorubicin and pH-Sensitive PLGA Nanoparticles Containing a Novel Organoselenium Compound—An In Vitro Study. Macedo L.B., Nogueira-Librelotto D.R., Mathes D., de Vargas J.M., da Rosa R.M., Rodrigues O.E.D., Vinardell M.P., Mitjans M., Rolim C.M.B. Pharmaceutics, 14, 1, 80, 2022
Exploring wild Aspleniaceae ferns as safety sources of polyphenols: The case of Asplenium trichomanes L. and Ceterach officinarum Willd. Farràs A., Mitjans M., Maggi F., Caprioli G., Vinardell M.P., López V. Frontiers in Nutrition. 9, 994215, 2022
Methodological shortcomings in the reports of the imiquimod psoriatic model. Vinardell M.P. Experimental Dermatology. 31, 3, 299, 2022
Multifunctional PLGA nanoparticles combining transferrin-targetability and pH-stimuli sensitivity enhanced doxorubicin intracellular delivery and in vitro antineoplastic activity in MDR tumor cells. Scheeren L.E., Nogueira-Librelotto D.R., Mathes D., Pillat M.M., Macedo L.B., Mitjans M., Vinardell M.P., Rolim C.M.B. Toxicology in Vitro. 2021, 75, 105192
Methodological shortcomings in the reports of the imiquimod psoriatic model. Vinardell M.P. Experimental Dermatology (2021)
UVB photoprotective capacity of hydrogels containing dihydromyricetin nanocapsules to UV-induced DNA damage. Dalcin A.J.F., Roggia I., Felin S., Vizzotto B.S., Mitjans M., Vinardell M.P., Schuch A.P., Ourique A.F., Gomes P. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 2021, 197, 111431
Green cationic arginine surfactants: Influence of the polar head cationic character on the self-aggregation and biological properties. Pérez L., Pons R., Oliveira de Sousa F.F., Morán M.D.C., Ramos da Silva A., Pinazo A. Journal of Molecular Liquids. 2021, 339, 116819
MKC-Quatsomes: a stable nanovesicle platform for bio-imaging and drug-delivery applications. Vargas-Nadal G., Muñoz-Ubeda M., Alamo P., Arnal M.M., Céspedes V., Köber M., Gonzalez E., Ferrer-Tasies L., Vinardell M.P., Mangues R., Veciana J., Ventosa N. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine. 2020, 24
pH-Sensitive chitosan-tripolyphosphate nanoparticles increase doxorubicin-induced growth inhibition of cervical HeLa tumor cells by apoptosis and cell cycle modulation. Nogueira-Librelotto D.R., Scheeren L.E., Macedo L.B., Vinardell M.P., Rolim C.M.B. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 2020, 193
Transferrin-conjugated doxorubicin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles with pH-responsive behavior: a synergistic approach for cancer therapy. Scheeren L.E., Nogueira-Librelotto D.R., Macedo L.B., de Vargas J.M., Mitjans M., Vinardell M.P., Rolim C.M.B. Journal of Nanoparticle Research. 2020, 22(3)
Modelos in vitro para predecir fotosensibilización de contacto: estrategias basadas en los mecanismos celulares implicados. PID2020-113186RB-I00. IP: Mitjans, M. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) (2021-2025)
– Michele Ferrari
Instituto di Chimica della Materia Condensata e di Tecnologie per l’Energia (ICMATE-CNR) Genova, Italy
Codi GREC 18407- Framework Cooperation Agreement (2018/2021)
Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Science (UB)- Institute for Chemistry of Condensed Matter and Technologies for Energy (ICMATE-CNR)
– Clarice M B Rolim
Department of Industrial Pharmacy, Universida de Federal de Santa Maria, Av. Roraima 1000, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brazil.
– Emanuela Corsini
Dipartimento di scienze farmacologiche e biomolecolari. Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy