IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-09601-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Directed self-assembly of herbal small molecules into sustained release hydrogels for treating neural inflammation

Author

Listed:
  • Jun Zheng

    (Central South University)

  • Rong Fan

    (Central South University)

  • Huiqiong Wu

    (Central South University
    Zhengzhou University)

  • Honghui Yao

    (Central South University)

  • Yujie Yan

    (Central South University)

  • Jiamiao Liu

    (Central South University)

  • Lu Ran

    (Kunming University of Science and Technology)

  • Zhifang Sun

    (Central South University)

  • Lunzhao Yi

    (Kunming University of Science and Technology)

  • Li Dang

    (Shantou University)

  • Pingping Gan

    (Central South University)

  • Piao Zheng

    (Hunan University of Chinese Medicine)

  • Tilong Yang

    (Southern University of Science and Technology)

  • Yi Zhang

    (Central South University
    Central South University)

  • Tao Tang

    (Central South University)

  • Yang Wang

    (Central South University)

Abstract

Self-assembling natural drug hydrogels formed without structural modification and able to act as carriers are of interest for biomedical applications. A lack of knowledge about natural drug gels limits there current application. Here, we report on rhein, a herbal natural product, which is directly self-assembled into hydrogels through noncovalent interactions. This hydrogel shows excellent stability, sustained release and reversible stimuli-responses. The hydrogel consists of a three-dimensional nanofiber network that prevents premature degradation. Moreover, it easily enters cells and binds to toll-like receptor 4. This enables rhein hydrogels to significantly dephosphorylate IκBα, inhibiting the nuclear translocation of p65 at the NFκB signalling pathway in lipopolysaccharide-induced BV2 microglia. Subsequently, rhein hydrogels alleviate neuroinflammation with a long-lasting effect and little cytotoxicity compared to the equivalent free-drug in vitro. This study highlights a direct self-assembly hydrogel from natural small molecule as a promising neuroinflammatory therapy.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun Zheng & Rong Fan & Huiqiong Wu & Honghui Yao & Yujie Yan & Jiamiao Liu & Lu Ran & Zhifang Sun & Lunzhao Yi & Li Dang & Pingping Gan & Piao Zheng & Tilong Yang & Yi Zhang & Tao Tang & Yang Wang, 2019. "Directed self-assembly of herbal small molecules into sustained release hydrogels for treating neural inflammation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09601-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09601-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09601-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-09601-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sai Zhao & Yongkang Jiang & Yuchen Fu & Wei Chen & Qinrong Zhang & Liulin He & Changxiong Huang & Yao Liu & Xiao Cheng Zeng & Yu Chai, 2024. "Chaperone solvent-assisted assembly of polymers at the interface of two immiscible liquids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09601-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.