title: Plant extracts: from encapsulation to application.
abstract: Plants are a natural source of various products with diverse biological activities offering treatment for several diseases. Plant extract is a complex mixture of compounds, which can have antioxidant, antibiotic, antiviral, anticancer, antiparasitic, antifungal, hypoglycemic, anti-hypertensive and insecticide properties. The extraction of these extracts requires the use of organic solvents, which not only complicates the formulations but also makes it difficult to directly use the extracts for humans. To overcome these problems, recent research has been focused on developing new ways to formulate the plant extracts and delivering them safely with enhanced therapeutic efficacy.
  
  
  
  This review focuses on the research done in the development and use of polymeric nanoparticles for the encapsulation and administration of plant extracts. It describes in detail, the different encapsulation techniques, main physicochemical characteristics of the nanoparticles, toxicity tests and results obtained from in vivo or in vitro assays.
  
  
  
  Major obstacles associated with the use of plant extracts for clinical applications include their complex composition, toxicity risks and extract instability. It is observed that encapsulation can be successfully used to decrease plant extracts toxicity, to provide targeted drug delivery and to solve stability related problems.
authors.affiliation: a Departamento de Química Analítica, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas , Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León , San Nicolás de los Garza , México.|b Laboratoire d'Automatique et des Génie des Procédés (ESCPE, CNRS UMR 5007) , Université Claude Bernard Lyon I , Villeurbanne , France.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Armendáriz-Barragán
authors.affiliation: b Laboratoire d'Automatique et des Génie des Procédés (ESCPE, CNRS UMR 5007) , Université Claude Bernard Lyon I , Villeurbanne , France.
authors.forename: Nadiah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zafar
authors.affiliation: b Laboratoire d'Automatique et des Génie des Procédés (ESCPE, CNRS UMR 5007) , Université Claude Bernard Lyon I , Villeurbanne , France.
authors.forename: Waisudin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Badri
authors.affiliation: a Departamento de Química Analítica, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas , Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León , San Nicolás de los Garza , México.
authors.forename: Sergio Arturo
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Galindo-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: c Department of Agronomy and Life Science, Universiapolis , International University of Agadir , Agadir , Morocco.
authors.forename: Dounia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kabbaj
authors.affiliation: b Laboratoire d'Automatique et des Génie des Procédés (ESCPE, CNRS UMR 5007) , Université Claude Bernard Lyon I , Villeurbanne , France.
authors.forename: Hatem
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fessi
authors.affiliation: b Laboratoire d'Automatique et des Génie des Procédés (ESCPE, CNRS UMR 5007) , Université Claude Bernard Lyon I , Villeurbanne , France.
authors.forename: Abdelhamid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elaissari
mesh_terms: D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Polymeric nanoparticles; biological activity; drug delivery; encapsulation techniques; plant extracts