Pharmacodynamics study of Panax notoginseng saponins zein lipoprotein nanoparticles for cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in rats

PLZ-NPs (PNS-lipid-zein nanoparticles) prepared by co-assembly of Panax notoginseng saponins, lecithin, β-sitosterol and zein were applied for in vitro cell experiment and oral gavage to study the protective effect of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rats.PLZ-NPs were characterized by Malvin-particle size analyzer and transmission electron microscope (TEM), respectively. The toxicity of PLZ-NPs and free carrier were evaluated by MTT, and the uptake of nanoparticles in Caco-2 cells was analyzed by laser confocal and flow cytometry. The cerebral ischemia reperfusion rat model was established by MCAO method and then be given samples by gavage for 3 days. The brain tissues were taken to stain by 2, 3, 5-triphenyltetrazole chloride (TTC) and the biochemical indicators of MDA, inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α, apoptosis-related proteins Bax and Bcl-2 from the harvested brain tissues were detected to evaluate the protective effect of PNS in PLZ-NPs on cerebral ischemia reperfusion. The particle size, PDI, and zeta potential of formed PLZ-NPs were (116.4 ± 0.81) nm, 0.048 and -(31.5 ± 0.31) mV, respectively. The results of MTT showed that the zein lipoprotein carrier was non-toxic to Caco-2 cells. The results of laser confocal and flow cytometry showed that FITC uptake of nanoparticles could be significantly improved in Caco-2 cells.The uptake from the nanoparticles at 4h was 1.76 times of that of the free FITC group.Compared with the model group, the TTC staining images of free drug PNS group and PLZ-NPs group showed certain reduction in the white infarct area.The contents of MDA, IL-1β, TNF-α and Bax were significantly decreased, while the content of Bcl-2 was significantly increased. Furthermore, all parameters of PLZ-NPs group showed better results than those of PNS group, and there was a significant difference (P < 0.05). All results indicated that the prepared PLZ-NPs had good stability and biological safety, and could significantly increase the uptake in intestinal epithelial cells, and effectively protect against the damage caused by cerebral ischemia reperfusion in rats.