Reactive oxygen species scavenging and inflammation mitigation enabled by biomimetic prussian blue analogues boycott atherosclerosis

BACKGROUND: As one typical cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis severely endanger people’ life and cause burden to people health and mentality. It has been extensively accepted that oxidative stress and inflammation closely correlate with the evolution of atherosclerotic plaques, and they directly participate in all stages of atherosclerosis. Regarding this, anti-oxidation or anti-inflammation drugs were developed to enable anti-oxidative therapy and anti-inflammation therapy against atherosclerosis. However, current drugs failed to meet clinical demands. METHODS: Nanomedicine and nanotechnology hold great potential in addressing the issue. In this report, we engineered a simvastatin (Sim)-loaded theranostic agent based on porous manganese-substituted prussian blue (PMPB) analogues. The biomimetic PMPB carrier could scavenge ROS and mitigate inflammation in vitro and in vivo. Especially after combining with Sim, the composite Sim@PMPB NC was expected to regulate the processes of atherosclerosis. As well, Mn(2+) release from PMPB was expected to enhance MRI. RESULTS: The composite Sim@PMPB NC performed the best in regulating the hallmarks of atherosclerosis with above twofold decreases, typically such as oxidative stress, macrophage infiltration, plaque density, LDL internalization, fibrous cap thickness and foam cell birth, etc. Moreover, H(2)O(2)-induced Mn(2+) release from PMPB NC in atherosclerotic inflammation could enhance MRI for visualizing plaques. Moreover, Sim@PMPB exhibited high biocompatibility according to references and experimental results. CONCLUSIONS: The biomimetic Sim@PMPB theranostic agent successfully stabilized atherosclerotic plaques and alleviated atherosclerosis, and also localized and magnified atherosclerosis, which enabled the monitoring of H(2)O(2)-associated atherosclerosis evolution after treatment. As well, Sim@PMPB was biocompatible, thus holding great potential in clinical translation for treating atherosclerosis. GRAPHIC ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-021-00897-2.