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Review
. 2024 May 9;10(9):e30946.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30946. eCollection 2024 May 15.

Docosahexaenoic acid-loaded nanoparticles: A state-of-the-art of preparation methods, characterization, functionality, and therapeutic applications

Affiliations
Review

Docosahexaenoic acid-loaded nanoparticles: A state-of-the-art of preparation methods, characterization, functionality, and therapeutic applications

Abdelmoneim H Ali et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6 n-3), an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, offers several beneficial effects. DHA helps in reducing depression, autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases. It can stimulate the development of brain and nerve, alleviate lipids metabolism-related disorders, and enhance vision development. However, DHA susceptibility to chemical oxidation, poor water solubility, and unpleasant order could restrict its applications for nutritional and therapeutic purposes. To avoid these drawbacks and enhance its bioavailability, DHA can be encapsulated using an effective delivery system. Several encapsulation methods are recognized, and DHA-loaded nanoparticles have demonstrated numerous benefits. In clinical studies, positive influences on the development of several diseases have been reported, but some assumptions are conflicting and need more exploration, since DHA has a systemic and not a targeted release at the required level. This might cause the applications of nanoparticles that could allow DHA release at the required level and improve its efficiency, thus resulting in a better controlling of several diseases. In the current review, we focused on researches investigating the formulation and development of DHA-loaded nanoparticles using different delivery systems, including low-density lipoprotein, zinc oxide, silver, zein, and resveratrol-stearate. Silver-DHA nanoparticles presented a typical particle size of 24 nm with an incorporation level of 97.67 %, while the entrapment efficiency of zinc oxide-DHA nanoparticles represented 87.3 %. By using zein/Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) stabilized nanoparticles, DHA's encapsulation level reached 84.6 %. We have also highlighted the characteristics, functionality and medical implementation of these nanoparticles in the treatment of inflammations, brain disorders, diabetes as well as hepatocellular carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests Mayssa Hachem reports financial support was provided by 10.13039/501100004070Khalifa University. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Chemical structure of docosahexaenoic acid. Draw using ChemDraw (Pro 12.0, Cambridge Soft Corporation).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Low-density lipoprotein structure. The figure is drawn using biorender.com.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Different forms of nanoparticles used for DHA delivery in medical applications.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Insulin signaling pathways were redrawn based on the concepts from previously published literatute [111] using biorender.com (Agreement number: JR25VYABGN). Abbreviations: GLUT4, Glucose transporter type 4; PIP2, Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate; PIP3, hosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate; PI3K, Phosphoinositide 3-kinase; IRS, Insulin receptor substrate 1; AKT, Protein kinase B; GSK-3, Glycogen synthase kinase 3; MTOR, Mammalian target of rapamycin; AMP, Adenosine monophosphate; ATP, Adenosine triphosphate; AMPK, Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase. The figure was drawn using Biorender.com (Agreement number: JR25VYABGN).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Metabolism of LDL-DHA nanoparticles in the liver. DHA is released from nanoparticle after intracellular uptake by LDL receptor. Free DHA could be: activated by the long-chain-fatty-acid-CoA ligase (ACSL) for esterification into phospholipids or triacylglycerols of the membrane; undergo auto-oxidative lipids peroxidation producing aldehyde end products; or be successively metabolized through lipoxygenase enzyme reaction to the pro-resolving protectin DX mediator. DHA delivered to the liver cells through LDL nanoparticles favorably undergoes enzyme-induced oxidation through lipoxygenase reaction instead of free radicals degradation. 15/5-LOX, 15-lipoxygenase and 5-lipoxygenase; PLA2, phospholipase A2 [40].

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