Functional Polyphenol-Based Nanoparticles Boosted the Neuroprotective Effect of Riluzole for Acute Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Riluzole is commonly used as a neuroprotective agent for treating traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), which works by blocking the influx of sodium and calcium ions and reducing glutamate activity. However, its clinical application is limited because of its poor solubility, short half-life, potential organ toxicity, and insufficient bioabilities toward upregulated inflammation and oxidative stress levels. To address this issue, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a natural polyphenol, was employed to fabricate nanoparticles (NPs) with riluzole to enhance the neuroprotective effects. The resulting NPs demonstrated good biocompatibility, excellent antioxidative properties, and promising regulation effects from the M1 to M2 macrophages. Furthermore, an in vivo SCI model was successfully established, and NPs could be obviously aggregated at the SCI site. More interestingly, excellent neuroprotective properties of NPs through regulating the levels of oxidative stress, inflammation, and ion channels could be fully demonstrated in vivo by RNA sequencing and sophisticated biochemistry evaluations. Together, the work provided new opportunities toward the design and fabrication of robust and multifunctional NPs for oxidative stress and inflammation-related diseases via biological integration of natural polyphenols and small-molecule drugs.

Acid Neutralization by Composite Lysine Nanoparticles for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery through Mitigating Mitochondrial Dysfunction

“…In recent years, with the rapid development of materials science, biomaterials have been widely used to improve the microenvironment of SCI and promote repair. A study by Yuan et al utilized epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) nanoparticles to effectively suppress the inflammatory response and mitigate ROS, thereby exerting a neuroprotective effect . Similarly, Liu et al prepared aldehyde-scavenging polypeptides (PAH)-curcumin conjugate nanoassemblies (named PFCN), which released curcumin and PAH under acidic and oxidative microenvironmental conditions, thereby achieving the clearance of inflammatory factors, ROS, and aldehydes, providing synergistic multifactorial regulation for SCI repair .…”