“Ferrero-like”nanoparticles knotted injectable hydrogels to initially scavenge ROS and lastingly promote vascularization in infarcted hearts

Myocardial infarction(MI)exhibits a complicated and ever-accelerated pathological change involving excessive reactive oxygen species(ROS)and the up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the initial stage,and a permanently inadequate blood supply.Herein,an injectable hydrogel fabricated by nanoparticles(NPs)knotted thiolated hyaluronic acid(HA-SH)was reported to reverse the hostile microenvironment and rebuild the heart functions after MI.Inspired by the composite shell-core structure of Ferrero chocolate sphere,a mimetic nanocarrier was designed to consist of the hydrophobic dimethyloxalylglycine(DMOG)NPs core and a thick polydopamine(PDA)shell formed by the self-polymerization of dopamine embedded with watersoluble drug epigallocatechin-3-gallate(EGCG)throughπ-πinteractions.The resulted"Ferrero-like"NPs exhibited a"three-inone"capacity,namely loading two distinct drugs,elimination of ROS,and serving a crosslinker to knot HA-SH."Ferrero-like"NPs and HA-SH could rapidly form a hydrogel that exhibited a stable mechanical property,high capability to capture ROS,and programmed release of EGCG and DMOG.Four weeks after deploying the"Ferrero-like"NPs knotted hydrogels into rat infarcted hearts,the ejection fraction(EF)increased by 23.7%,and the infarct size decreased by 21.1%,and the fibrotic area reduced by 24.4%.The outcomes of immunofluorescence staining and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RTPCR)demonstrated a down-regulation of inflammatory factors(tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleukin-1β(IL-1β),interferon-γ(IFN-γ)),up-regulation of vascular related growth factors(hypoxia inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α),vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA),von Willebrand factor(vWF),angiopoietin-1(Ang-1))and cardiac-related m RNAs(gap junction protein(Cx43),Cadherin 2).All in all,in this report,a very simple approach to intertemporally address the intricate and ongoing pathological changes after MI by injecting"Ferrero-like"NPs knotted hydrogels is developed to reverse hostile microenvironment,with an ability to scavenge ROS,down-regulate pro-inflammation factors in the first stage,and promote angiogenesis in a long term,thereby contributing to a significant improvement of heart functions.