Person:
Cruz Rodríguez, Antonio

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First Name
Antonio
Last Name
Cruz Rodríguez
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Químicas
Department
Bioquímica y Biología Molecular
Area
Bioquímica y Biología Molecular
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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Pulmonary surfactant and nanocarriers: toxicity versus combined nanomedical applications
    (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes, 2017) Hidalgo Román, Alberto; Cruz Rodríguez, Antonio; Pérez-Gil, Jesús
    Pulmonary surfactant is a membrane-based lipid-protein system essential for the process of breathing, which coats and stabilizes the whole respiratory surface and possesses exceptional biophysical properties. It constitutes the first barrier against the entry of pathogens and harmful particles in the alveolar region, extended through the lungs, but on the other hand, it can offer novel possibilities as a shuttle for the delivery of drugs and nanocarriers. The advances in nanotechnology are opening the doors to new diagnostic and therapeutic avenues, which are not accessible by means of the current approaches. In this context, the pulmonary route is called to become a powerful way of entry for innovative treatments based on nanotechnology. In this review, the anatomy of the respiratory system and its properties for drug entry are first revisited, as well as some current strategies that use the respiratory route for both local and peripheral action. Then, a brief overview is presented on what pulmonary surfactant is, how it works and why it could be used as a drug delivery vehicle. Finally, the review is closed with a description of the development of nanocarriers in the lung context and their interaction with endogenous and clinical pulmonary surfactants.
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    Barrier or carrier? Pulmonary surfactant and drug delivery
    (European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2015) Hidalgo Román, Alberto; Cruz Rodríguez, Antonio; Pérez-Gil, Jesús
    To consider the lung as a target for drug delivery and to optimise strategies directed at the pulmonary route, it is essential to consider the role of pulmonary surfactant, a thin lipid–protein film lining the respiratory surface of mammalian lungs. Membrane-based surfactant multilayers are essential for reducing the surface tension at the respiratory air–liquid interface to minimise the work of breathing. Different components of surfactant are also responsible for facilitating the removal of potentially pathological entities such as microorganisms, allergens or environmental pollutants and particles. Upon inhalation, drugs or nanoparticles first contact the surfactant layer, and these interactions critically affect their lifetime and fate in the airways. This review summarises the current knowledge on the possible role and effects of the pulmonary surfactant system in drug delivery strategies. It also summarises the evidence that suggests that pulmonary surfactant is far from being an insuperable barrier and could be used as an efficient shuttle for delivering hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds deep into the lung and the organism.
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    Pulmonary Surfactant and Drug Delivery: An Interface-Assisted Carrier to Deliver Surfactant Protein SP-D Into the Airways
    (Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2021) García Mouton, Cristina; Hidalgo Román, Alberto; Arroyo, Raquel; Echaide Torreguitar, Mercedes; Cruz Rodríguez, Antonio; Pérez Gil, Jesús
    This work is focused on the potential use of pulmonary surfactant to deliver full-length recombinant human surfactant protein SP-D (rhSP-D) using the respiratory air-liquid interface as a shuttle. Surfactant protein D (SP-D) is a collectin protein present in the pulmonary surfactant (PS) system, involved in innate immune defense and surfactant homeostasis. It has been recently suggested as a potential therapeutic to alleviate inflammatory responses and lung diseases in preterm infants suffering from respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). However, none of the current clinical surfactants used for surfactant replacement therapy (SRT) to treat RDS contain SP-D. The interaction of SP-D with surfactant components, the potential of PS as a respiratory drug delivery system and the possibility to produce recombinant versions of human SP-D, brings the possibility of delivering clinical surfactants supplemented with SP-D. Here, we used an in vitro setup that somehow emulates the respiratory air-liquid interface to explore this novel approach. It consists in two different compartments connected with a hydrated paper bridge forming a continuous interface. We firstly analyzed the adsorption and spreading of rhSP-D alone from one compartment to another over the air-liquid interface, observing low interfacial activity. Then, we studied the interfacial spreading of the protein co-administered with PS, both at different time periods or as a mixed formulation, and which oligomeric forms of rhSP-D better traveled associated with PS. The results presented here demonstrated that PS may transport rhSP-D long distances over air-liquid interfaces, either as a mixed formulation or separately in a close window time, opening the doors to empower the current clinical surfactants and SRT.
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    The lord of the Lungs: the essential role of pulmonary surfactant upon inhalation of nanoparticles
    (European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2019) García-Mouton, Cristina; Hidalgo Román, Alberto; Cruz Rodríguez, Antonio; Pérez-Gil, Jesús
    The rapid development of nanotechnology is opening a huge world of promising possibilities in healthcare, but this is also increasing the necessity to study the potential risk of nanoparticles on public health and the environment. Since the main route for airborne particles to enter into our organism is through the lungs, it has become essential to prove that the nanoparticles generated by human activities do not compromise the respiratory function. This review explains the key role of pulmonary surfactant to sustain the normal function of breathing, as well as the stability and immunity of lungs. Particular emphasis is made on the importance of analysing the features of nanoparticles, defining their interactions with surfactant and unravelling the mutual effects. The implication of the nanoparticle-surfactant interaction on the function and fate of both structures is described, as well as the main in vitro methodologies used to evaluate this interaction. Finally, the incorporation of pulmonary surfactant in appropriate in vitro models is used in order to obtain an extensive understanding of how nanoparticles may act in the context of the lung. The main goal of this review is to offer a general view on inhaled nanoparticles and their effects on the structure and function of lungs derived from their interaction with the pulmonary surfactant system.
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    Pulmonary surfactant and drug delivery: Vehiculization, release and targeting of surfactant/tacrolimus formulations
    (Journal of Controlled Release, 2020) Hidalgo Román, Alberto; García-Mouton, Cristina; Autilio, Chiara; Carravilla, Pablo; Orellana Moraleda, Guillermo; Islam, Mohammad N.; Bhattacharya, Jahar; Bhattacharya, Sunita; Cruz Rodríguez, Antonio; Pérez-Gil, Jesús
    This work explores the potential for strategizing pulmonary surfactant (PS) for drug delivery over the respiratory air-liquid interface: the interfacial delivery. The efficacy of PS- and interface-assisted drug vehiculization was determined both in vitro and in vivo using a native purified porcine PS combined with the hydrophobic antiinflammatory drug Tacrolimus (TAC), a calcineurin inhibitor. In vitro assays were conducted in a novel double surface balance setup designed to emulate compression-expansion dynamics applied to interfacially connected drug donor and recipient compartments. In this setup, PS transported TAC efficiently over air-liquid interfaces, with compression/expansion breathing-like dynamics enhancing rapid interface-assisted diffusion and drug release. The efficacy of PS-assisted TAC vehiculization was also evaluated in vivo in a mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI). In anesthetized mice, TAC combined with PS was intra-nasally (i.n) instilled prior administering i.n. LPS. PS/TAC pre-treatment caused greater TAC internalization into a higher number of lung cells obtained from bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) than TAC pre-treatment alone. Additionally, the PS/TAC combination but not TAC or PS alone attenuated the LPS-induced pro-inflammatory effects reducing cells and proteins in BAL fluid. These findings indicated that PS-mediated increase in TAC uptake blunted the pro-injurious effects of LPS, suggesting a synergistic anti-inflammatory effect of PS/drug formulations. These in vitro and in vivo results establish the potential utility of PS to open novel effective delivery strategies for inhaled drugs.
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    Interfacial Activity of Phasin PhaF from Pseudomonas putida KT2440 at Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Biointerfaces
    (Langmuir, 2019) Mato, Aránzazu; Tarazona Lizcano, Natalia Andrea; Hidalgo Román, Alberto; Cruz Rodríguez, Antonio; Jiménez, Mercedes; Pérez-Gil, Jesús; Prieto Jiménez, María Auxiliadora
    Phasins, the major proteins coating polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) granules, have been proposed as suitable biosurfactants for multiple applications because of their amphiphilic nature. In this work, we analyzed the interfacial activity of the amphiphilic α-helical phasin PhaF from Pseudomonas putida KT2440 at different hydrophobic−hydrophilic interfacial environments. The binding of PhaF to surfaces containing PHA or phospholipids, postulated as structural components of PHA granules, was confirmed in vitro using supported lipid bilayers and confocal microscopy, with polyhydroxyoctanoate-co-hexanoate P(HO-co-HHx) and Escherichia coli lipid extract as model systems. The surfactantlike capabilities of PhaF were determined by measuring changes in surface pressure in Langmuir devices. PhaF spontaneously adsorbed at the air−water interface, reducing the surface tension from 72 mN/m (water surface tension at 25 °C) to 50 mN/m. The differences in the adsorption of the protein in the presence of different phospholipid films showed a marked preference for phosphatidylglycerol species, such as 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol. The PHA-binding domain of PhaF (BioF) conserved a similar surface activity to PhaF, suggesting that it is responsible for the surfactant properties of the whole protein. These new findings not only increase our knowledge about the role of phasins in the PHA machinery but also open new outlooks for the application of these proteins as biosurfactants.