Fluorinated hyaluronates endow oral nanoparticles with mucus penetration and colonic macrophage targeting properties

Abstract

The therapeutic outcomes of oral nanotherapeutics against ulcerative colitis (UC) are compromised by their shortage of mucus-penetrating and macrophage-targeting properties. Herein, hyaluronate (HA) was fluorinated and used to functionalize the surface of curcumin (CUR)-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (NPs). The generated FHA-CUR-NPs had hydrodynamic diameters of 172.9 ​nm and negatively charged surfaces (-17.5 ​mV). It was found that the fluorination of NPs could improve their mucus-penetrating capacity and yield an obviously higher cell internalization percentages in macrophages than their counterparts (CUR-NPs and HA-CUR-NPs), resulting in the strongest capacity to decrease the secreted amounts of the typical pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-12). In vivo investigations suggested that oral administration of hydrogel (chitosan/alginate)-encapsulating FHA-CUR-NPs preferentially accumulated in the colitis tissues and achieved much better therapeutic outcomes against UC, in comparison with hydrogel-embedding CUR-NPs or HA-CUR-NPs. Collectively, FHA-CUR-NP-based system with mucus-penetrating and macrophage-targeting capacities is a potential oral platform for UC treatment.

Keywords

• Fluorination
• Hyaluronate
• Oral nanoparticle
• Mucus penetration
• Macrophage targeting
• Ulcerative colitis