Hyaluronic acid-modified mesoporous silica nanoprobes for target identification of atherosclerosis

Rupture of vulnerable plaque and secondary thrombosis caused by atherosclerosis are one of the main causes of acute cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, and it is urgent to develop an in-situ, noninvasive, sensitive and targeted detection method at molecular level. We chose CD44, a specific receptor highly expressed on the surface of macrophages, as the target of the molecular probe, and modified the CD44 ligand HA onto the surface of Gd₂O₃@MSN, constructing the MRI imaging nanoprobe HA-Gd₂O₃@MSN for targeted recognition of atherosclerosis. The fundamental properties of HA-Gd₂O₃@MSN were initially investigated. The CCK-8, hemolysis, hematoxylin-eosin staining tests and blood biochemical assays confirmed that HA-Gd₂O₃@MSN possessed excellent biocompatibility. Laser confocal microscopy, cellular magnetic resonance imaging, flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry were used to verify that the nanoprobes had good targeting properties. The in vivo targeting performance of the nanoprobes was further validated by employing a rabbit atherosclerosis animal model. In summary, the synthesized HA-Gd₂O₃@MSN nanoprobes have excellent biocompatibility properties as well as good targeting properties. It could provide a new technical tool for early identification of atherosclerosis.