Mesoporous Silica Administration as a New Strategy in the Management of Warfarin Toxicity: An In-Vitro and In-Vivo...

Warfarin is one of the most widely used anticoagulants that functions by inhibiting vitamin K epoxide reductase. Warfarin overdose, whether intentional or unintentional, can cause life-threatening bleeding. Here, we present a novel warfarin adsorbent based on mesoporous silica that could serve as an antidote to warfarin toxicity.

Amino-functionalized mesoporous silica (MS-NH₂) was synthesized based on the co-condensation method through a soft template technique followed by template removal. The prepared structure and functional group were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) checked the morphology. The capacity of MS-NH₂ in the adsorption of warfarin was evaluated in vitro, at pH=7.4 and pH=1.2. In vivo evaluations were performed in control and warfarin-overdosed animal models. Overdosed animals were treated with MS-NH₂ by oral gavage. Biomarkers of organ injury were assessed in animal serum.

The MS-NH₂ was relatively uniform, spherical with defined diameters (400 nm) and porous structure. Synthesized particles had a large surface area (1015 m₂ g^-1) and mean pore diameter of 2.4 nm which led to considerable adsorption capacity for warfarin 1666 mg/g. In vivo studies revealed that oral administration of MS-NH₂ in mice poisoned with warfarin caused a significant difference (P<0.05) in the International Normalized Ratio (INR) and prothrombin time (PT). Moreover, the warfarin with MS-NH₂ group demonstrated a notable decrease in biomarkers associated with tissue damage, such as bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST).

The results confirm that MS-NH₂ administration can be an effective treatment for warfarin toxicity and could potentially mitigate the adverse effects of warfarin poisoning.