A new approach for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease: insulin-quantum dots

The potential use of insulin supplementation for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) was aimed to investigate and explore CQDs as an alternative delivery system. CQDs were produced by microwave and characterised. Insulin-loaded Ins-CQDs and in-situ Gel-Ins-CQDs were developed. The in vitro release kinetics, penetrations of insulin through excised sheep nasal mucosa were determined. Toxicity of CQDs were calculated on SH-SY5Y cells. The stability and usability of the prepared formulations were assessed. The insulin release from the solution was 70.75% after 3 hours, while it was 37.51% for in-situ Gel-Ins-CQDs. IC50 value was 52 mu M. The mean particle diameters of Ins-CQDs and in-situ Gel-Ins-CQDs varied between 8.35 +/- 0.19 to 8.75 +/- 0.03 nm during a 6-month period. Zeta potentials ranged from -31.51 +/- 1.39 to -24.43 +/- 0.26 mV, and PDI values were between 9.8 +/- 0.01 to 5.3 +/- 3.2%(SD, n = 3) for Ins-CQDs and in-situ Gel-Ins-CQDs, respectively.Our results show that Gel-Ins-CQDs represented a controlled release over time and can be used for AD through the nasal route.

Automated summary

This study aimed to explore the use of CQDs as an alternative delivery system for insulin supplementation in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Insulin-loaded Ins-CQDs and in-situ Gel-Ins-CQDs were developed and their release kinetics and penetrations through nasal mucosa were determined. The results showed that Gel-Ins-CQDs exhibited controlled release over time and could be used for the treatment of AD via the nasal route.