Intravenous Administration of Scutellarin Nanoparticles Augments the Protective Effect against Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats

This study investigates the protective effect of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) loaded withscutellarin (SCU), aflavone isolated from the traditional Chinese medicineErigeron breviscapus(Vant.) Hand.-Mazz., in reducingcerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injuryin vivo. The focal cerebral I/R injury model was established by occluding the middlecerebral artery for 1 h in male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Our SCU-PLGA NPs exhibited an extendedin vitrorelease profile andprolonged blood circulation in rats with cerebral ischemia. More importantly, when administered intravenously once a day for 3days, SCU-PLGA NPs increased the SCU level in the ischemic brain, compared to free SCU, resulting in a significant reduction ofthe cerebral infarct volume after cerebral I/R. Furthermore, SCU-PLGA NPs reversed the histopathological changes caused bycerebral I/R injury, as well as attenuated cell apoptosis in the brain tissue, as confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin, and TUNELstaining. Ourfindings have revealed that our injectable SCU-PLGA NPs provide promising protective effects against cerebral I/Rinjury, which could be used in combination with the existing conventional thrombolytic therapies to improve stroke management