Gold nanoclusters conjugated berberine reduce inflammation and alleviate neuronal apoptosis by mediating M2 polarization for spinal cord injury repair.
Zipeng ZhouDan LiXiangyi FanYajiang YuanHongyu WangDahao WangXi-Fan MeiPublished in: Regenerative biomaterials (2021)
Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to nerve cell apoptosis and loss of motor function. Herein, excessive activation of the M1 phenotype macrophages/microglia is found to be the main reason for the poor prognosis of SCI, but the selective activation phenotype (M2) macrophages/microglia facilitates the recovery of SCI. Thereafter, we used gold nanoclusters loaded berberine (BRB-AuNCs) to reduce inflammation by inhibiting the activation of M1 phenotype macrophages/microglia, which simultaneously inhibited neuronal apoptosis after SCI. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that BRB-AuNCs reduced M1 protein marker CD86, increased M2 protein marker CD206, reduced inflammation and apoptotic cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, Cleaved Caspase-3 and Bax). These results indicate that BRB-AuNCs have excellent anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects by inducing the polarization of macrophages/microglia from M1 phenotype to M2 phenotype. Thereafter, the motor functions of SCI rats were significantly improved after treatment with BRB-AuNCs. This work not only provides a new way for the treatment of SCI but also broadens BRB utilization strategies.
Keyphrases
- spinal cord injury
- neuropathic pain
- oxidative stress
- cell death
- poor prognosis
- spinal cord
- anti inflammatory
- inflammatory response
- cell cycle arrest
- long non coding rna
- induced apoptosis
- drug delivery
- rheumatoid arthritis
- signaling pathway
- sensitive detection
- body mass index
- wound healing
- smoking cessation
- energy transfer
- cerebral ischemia