Protective effect of magnolol-loaded polyketal microparticles on lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in rats

Abstract

Magnolol has shown inhibitory effects on NO production and TNF-alpha production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages and LPS-induced acute lung injury; however, the poor solubility of magnolol has hindered its clinical success. In this study, magnolol-loaded microparticles were prepared via single emulsion method from a polyketal polymer, termed PK3. The particle sizes of magnolol-loaded PK3 microparticle is 3.73 ± 0.41 μm, and was suitable for phagocytosis by macrophages and pulmonary drug delivery. PK3 microparticles exhibited excellent biocompatibility both in vitro and in vivo. More importantly, intratracheal delivery of these magnolol-loaded microparticles significantly reduced the lung inflammatory responses at low dosage of magnolol (0.5 mg/kg), and have great clinical potential in treating acute lung injury.

Keywords:

• Magnolol
• polyketal microparticles
• anti-inflammatory. pulmonary drug delivery
• acute lung injury

Disclosure statement

This work was supported by Taipei Medical University-National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Joint Research Programme (TMU-NTUST-102–09), and the financial support provided by the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC100–2221-E-011–014-). The authors report no declarations of interest.