Curcumin Conjugated Gold Nanoclusters as Perspective Therapeutics for Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

Dong-Zhuo Wei; Dan Li; Dan-Meng Zheng; Zhen-Ni An; Xue-Jiao Xing; Ding-Wen Jiang; Xi-Fan Mei; Chang Liu

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.763892

Curcumin Conjugated Gold Nanoclusters as Perspective Therapeutics for Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

Front Chem. 2021 Oct 26:9:763892. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.763892. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Dong-Zhuo Wei¹, Dan Li², Dan-Meng Zheng³, Zhen-Ni An³, Xue-Jiao Xing³, Ding-Wen Jiang³, Xi-Fan Mei⁴, Chang Liu³

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Discipline of Chinese and Western Integrative Medicine, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang, China.
² Public Basic Academy, Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, China.
³ Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, China.

Abstract

Accumulation of lipids in the myocardium contributes to the development of cardiac dysfunctions and various chronic diseases, such as diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Curcumin (Cur) can relieve lipid accumulation problems, but its efficiency is limited by poor water solubility and biocompatibility. Herein, gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) were used to improve the efficiency of Cur, and the conjugates Curcumin-AuNCs (AuCur) were developed. In the treatment of high-fat-induced myocardial cell damage, we found that AuCur could effectively reduce intracellular lipid accumulation, the increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the increase of mitochondrial division, and the increase of apoptosis compared with Cur. AuCur decreased the expression of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors-α subtype (PPARα), and the therapeutic effect of AuCur was canceled when the expression of PPARα was enhanced. For the above reasons, AuCur treated the toxic effect of high lipid on cardiomyocytes by regulating PPARα, providing a new idea and method for the treatment of DCM.

Keywords: AuNCs; H9c2; apoptosis; curcumin; lipid metabolism.