Biomimetic carbon monoxide nanogenerator ameliorates streptozotocin induced type 1 diabetes in mice

Diabetes is an increasing health problem and associated with inflammatory complications that seriously affects the quality of life and survival of patients. Carbon monoxide (CO), owing to its anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties, has become a potential therapeutic molecule for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Here, we constructed a mesoporous silica-based biomimetic CO nanogenerator (mMMn), which was loaded with manganese carbonyl and camouflaged with macrophage membrane. Driven by the active targeting of macrophage membrane to inflammatory sites, the as-designed mMMn could effectively accumulate in pancreatic tissue of type 1 diabetic mice, which was established by consecutive administration of streptozotocin (STZ). It was found that the local reactive oxygen species (ROS) within pancreas could trigger the continuous CO release from mMMn, which greatly ameliorated diabetes in mice with improved blood glucose homeostasis by alleviating inflammatory responses and inhibiting β-cells apoptosis. The exogenous CO targeting to pancreatic tissue paves a novel way for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.