Enhancement of cerebroprotective effects of lipid nanoparticles encapsulating FK506 on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury by particle size regulation

Delivery of cerebroprotective agents using liposomes has been demonstrated to be useful for treating cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. We previously reported that intravenous administration of liposomes with diameters of 100 nm showed higher accumulation in the I/R region compared with larger liposomes (>200 nm) by passage through the disintegrated blood-brain barrier, suggesting a size-dependence for liposome-mediated drug delivery. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that regulation of liposomal particle size (<100 nm) may enhance the therapeutic efficacy of encapsulated drugs on cerebral I/R injury. Herein, we prepared lipid nanoparticles (LNP) with particle sizes <100 nm by the microfluidics method and compared their therapeutic potential with LNP exhibiting sizes >100 nm in cerebral I/R model rats. Intravenously administered smaller LNP (ca. 60 nm) exhibited wider accumulation and diffusivity in the brain parenchyma of the I/R region compared with larger LNP (>100 nm). Importantly, treatment with LNP encapsulating the cerebroprotective agent FK506 (FK-LNP) with particle sizes <100 nm showed greater cerebroprotective effects than FK-LNP with sizes >100 nm, and also significantly ameliorated brain injury. These results suggest that particle size regulation of LNP to sizes <100 nm can enhance the therapeutic effect of encapsulated drugs for treatment of cerebral I/R injury, and that FK-LNP could be a promising cerebroprotective agent.

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