Atherosclerosis is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases and is triggered by endothelial damage, local lipid cumulation, and inflammation. Despite the conventional medication treatment, nanosized drug carriers have become promising candidates for efficient drug delivery with lower side effects. However, the development of problems in nanocarriers such as drug leakage, accumulating efficiency, and accurate drug release, as well as the specific recognition of atherosclerotic plaques, still needs to be checked. In this study, a lipid-specific fluorophore (LFP) has been designed, which is further packaged with a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive prednisolone (Pred) prodrug copolymer [PMPC-P(MEMA-co-PDMA)] to self-assemble into LFP@PMMP micelles. LFP@PMMP can be further coated with red blood cell (RBC) membrane to obtain surface-biomimetic nanoparticles (RBC/LFP@PMMP), demonstrating prolonged circulation, minimal drug leakage, and better accumulation at the plaques. With ROS responsiveness, RBC/LFP@PMMP can be interrupted at inflammatory atherosclerotic tissue with overexpressed ROS, followed by the dissociation of Pred from the polymer backbone and the release of LFP to combine with the rich lipid in the plaques. An accurate anti-inflammation and lipid-specific fluorescent imaging of atherosclerotic lesions was performed and further proven on ApoE-/- mice; this holds prospective potential for atherosclerosis theranostics.
Keywords: anti-atherosclerosis; lipid-specific imaging; nanoparticles; reactive oxygen species responsive; theranostic.