High rapamycin-loaded hollow mesoporous Prussian blue nanozyme targets lesion area of spinal cord injury to recover locomotor function

Abstract

Scavenging free radicals and reducing inflammatory reaction to relieve the secondary damage are important issues in the spinal cord injury (SCI) therapeutic strategy. Nanozymes attract more attention in the drug development of SCI due to the high stability, long-lasting catalytic capacity, and multienzyme-like properties. Herein, we constructed a Rapamycin (Rapa)-loaded and hollow mesoporous Prussian blue (HMPB)-based nanozyme (RHPAzyme) to realize the combined antioxidation and anti-inflammation combination therapy of SCI. Furthermore, activated cell penetrating peptide (ACPP) is modified onto nanozyme to endow the effectively ability of lesion area-targeting. This RHPAzyme exhibits ROS scavenging capacity with the transformation of Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ valance and cyanide group of HMPB to achieve multienzyme-like activity. As expected, RHPAzyme scavenges the ROS overproduction and reduces inflammation in oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced damage via inhibiting MAPK/AKT signaling pathway. Furtherly, RHPAzyme exhibits the combined antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in vivo, which can effectively alleviate neuronal damage and promote motor function recovery in SCI mice. Overall, this study demonstrates the RHPAzyme induces an effective treatment of SCI by inhibiting oxygen-mediated cell apoptosis and suppressing inflammation-induced injury, thus reduces the nervous impairment and promotes motor function recovery.

Keywords: Anti-inflammation; Combination therapies; Drug delivery; Nanozyme; Oxidative damage; Spinal cord injury.