Solid lipid nanoparticle delivery of rhynchophylline enhanced the efficiency of allergic asthma treatment via the upregulation of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 by repressing the p38 signaling pathway

ABSTRACT

Allergic asthma is one of the most common chronic airway diseases, and there is still a lack of effective drugs for the treatment of allergic asthma. The purpose of this work is to formulate rhynchophylline (Rhy)-solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) to improve their therapeutic efficacy in a mice allergic model of asthma. A solvent injection method was employed to prepare the Rhy-SLNs. Physicochemical characterization of Rhy-SLNs was measured, and the release assessment was investigated, followed by the release kinetics. Next, a model of murine experimental asthma was established. Mice were subcutaneously injected with 20 μg ovalbumin mixed with 1 mg aluminum hydroxide on days 0, 14, 28, and 42 and administrated aerosolized 1% ovalbumin (w/v) by inhalation from day 21 to day 42. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with 20 mg/kg Rhy-SLNs or Rhy at one hour before the airway challenge with ovalbumin. The results showed that Rhy-SLNs revealed a mean particle size of 62.06 ± 1.62 nm with a zeta potential value of −6.53 ± 0.04 mV and 82.6 ± 1.8% drug entrapment efficiency. The release curve of Rhy-SLNs was much higher than the drug released in phosphate buffer saline at 0, 1, 1.5, 2, 4, or 6 h. Moreover, Rhy-SLNs exerted better effects on inhibiting ovalbumin-induced airway inflammation, oxidative stress, airway remodeling (including collagen deposition and mucus gland hyperplasia) than Rhy in murine experimental asthma. Subsequently, we found that Rhy-SLNs relieved allergic asthma via the upregulation of the suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 by repressing the p38 signaling pathway.

KEYWORDS:

• Rhynchophylline
• solid lipid nanoparticle
• allergic asthma
• suppressor of cytokine signaling 1
• p38 signaling pathway

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Availability of data and material

The data of this work is available on request to the corresponding author.

Author contributions

Chuanfeng Lv and Hui Li: conceptualization, methodology, writing-original draft; Hongxia Cui, investigation, and visualization; Qianyu Bi: conceptualization and visualization; Meng Wang: funding acquisition, project administration, and writing-review. All data were generated in-house and that no paper mill was used.

Ethic approval

The animal experimental protocols were approved by The Medical Ethic Committee of Jining No.1 People’s Hospital following The Guideline for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the Key Research and Development Plan of Shandong Province (No. 2019GSF108172), Wu Jieping Medical Foundation (No. 320.6750.2020-04-8), the Key Research and Development Plan of Jining City (No. 2019SMNS003) and the Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (No. 2021D01F19).