Q2. What future works have the authors mentioned in the paper "Potential therapeutic applications of biosurfactants" ?
Despite the ever increasing demand of biosurfactants for commercial applications, their use in drug delivery requires further research on the interactions between the different components in microemulsions.
Q3. What could be used to influence the activity of sphingolipids?
For instance, biosurfactants could be used to influence the activity of sphingolipids, because these lipids emerged as effector molecules, which control various aspects of cell growth, proliferation, and anticancer therapeutics [46].
Q4. What is the role of lipids in the structure of biological membranes?
Lipid composition determines the structure, function, and integrity of biological membranes, and phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingomyelin (SM), in particular, play a role in stabilizing the bilayer structure.
Q5. What is the important criterion that formulations fail to abide?
the important criterion that most formulations fail to abide is the judicious use of biocompatible and biodegradable pharmaceutical agents as their ingredients.
Q6. What is the main reason for the mixed systems?
these mixed systems may reduce the costs associated with the exclusive use of biosurfactants and could also encourage the development of a more efficient mixture.
Q7. What is the role of apoptotic events in MELs?
a sequence of apoptotic events was observed including the condensation of chromatin and DNA fragmentation, thus confirming the apoptosis-inducing potential of MELs in these cells [10].
Q8. What is the reason for the lack of studies on biosurfactants?
Owing to the lack of systematic studies on the characteristics of biosurfactant microemulsion systems, such as phase behavior and its stability under different physicochemical conditions and compatibility of oil and co-surfactants, drug delivery applications of biosurfactants remain to be developed.
Q9. What is the main reason for the lack of clinical data on biosurfactants?
hemolytic activity of most of thereported biosurfactants and the scarcity of clinical data on the use and validation of such molecules in animal models and human volunteers pose a major challenge in preparing safe drug delivery formulations.
Q10. What is the effect of surfactin on the gene of interest?
This study also indicated that surfactin-containing liposomes with theirhigher biocompatibility may improve the specific silencing of the gene of interest, that is, a more efficient delivery system led to an increase of the cellular uptake of siRNA, thus increasing the specific knockdown effect.
Q11. What is the strongest cytotoxic effect of the sophorolipid?
The sophorolipid with one double bond in the fatty acid part had the strongest cytotoxic effect, whereas the antitumor activity of acidic sophorolipids was scarce.
Q12. What is the mechanism of the lamellar arrangement?
As previously mentioned, some surfactant molecules in aqueous solution are spontaneously transformed from micelles into a lamellar arrangement in the presence of a high salt concentration.
Q13. What are the main reasons for the use of synthetic hydrocarbon oils in drug formulations?
Previous efforts have typically used synthetic hydrocarbon oils such as heptanes, dodecane, and cyclic oils such as cyclohexane, and surfactants with 12 carbon hydrophobic chains such as sodium dodecyl sulfate and tetraethylene glycol monododecyl ether, which are not approved for use in pharmaceutical formulations, and can present biocompatibility issues and exhibit some toxic effects [53].
Q14. What is the role of MELs in the differentiation of human melanoma cells?
MELs have been shown to induce the differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia HL60 cells towards granulocytes [18].
Q15. Why are there so many new molecules with interesting antitumor activities being reported?
Because there is an enormous diversity of microbial surfactants, new molecules with interesting antitumor activities are continuously being reported.
Q16. What did the authors show about the phase behavior of the system?
This study showed that excess of sodium ions influenced the phase behavior of the system by minimizingelectrostatic repulsions between the charged head groups.
Q17. What is the common reason for the use of a single cell line?
most studies use a single cancer cell line to assess the cytotoxicity of the biosurfactants without using proper controls (e.g., normal cell lines), which means that these compounds may not be as specific as desired, and by contrast may be only effective against that single cell line.
Q18. What are the main types of pharmaceutical carriers used?
To accomplish these two essential purposes, different types of pharmaceutical carriers such as polymeric, particulate, macromolecular, and cellular carriers have been tested and are currently used.
Q19. What is the role of protein kinase C in apoptosis?
This report suggests that regulation of the activity of protein kinase C (PKC) might be associated with apoptosis induced by MELs.