Nitric oxide-driven nanomotors with bowl-shaped mesoporous silica for targeted thrombolysis

Vein thrombosis is one of the most serious types of cardiovascular disease. During the traditional treatment, due to the excessive blood flow rate, the drug utilization rate at the thrombus site is low and the thrombolysis efficiency is poor. In this study, bowl-shaped silica nanomotors driven by nitric oxide (NO) are designed to target the thrombus surface by modifying arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) polypeptide, and simultaneously loading l-arginine (LA) and thrombolytic drug urokinase (UK) in its mesopore structure. LA can react with excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the thrombus microenvironment to produce NO, thus promoting the movement of nanomotors to improve the retention efficiency and utilization rate of drugs in the thrombus site, and at the same time achieve the effect of eliminating ROS and reducing the oxidative stress of inflammatory endothelial cells. The loaded UK can dissolve thrombus quickly. It is worth mentioning that NO can not only be used as a power source of nanomotors, but also can be used as a therapeutic agent to stimulate the growth of endothelial cells and reduce vascular injury. This therapeutic agent based on nanomotor technology is expected to provide support for future research on thrombus treatment.